Valentino Rossi returns to the podium in WEC: 3rd place at 6 Hours of Fuji

The Austin race had left a bitter taste in the mouth of Valentino Rossi, who saw the podium disappear before his very eyes due to a technical failure with 14 minutes to go. So this weekend he had every intention of making up for it in the WEC in the 6 Hours of Fuji.

Qualifying had not been great and the #46 BMW M4 of the WRT team started 12th. In the race, however, it was a different story. The Doctor and his teammates (Maxime Martin and Ahmad Al Harthy) were immediately competitive and with numerous overtaking moves they quickly moved into the leading positions. Everything went smoothly and the Belgian grabbed 3rd place at the finish line.

 

 

 

 

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This is Rossi's second time on the podium in the World Endurance Championship, following his 2nd place in Imola.

"I'm overjoyed for several reasons," Valentino commented, "First of all because the breakage in the last minutes in Austin was so bad, but this time the race was even harder in terms of pace. We did a fantastic job, Hamad and Maxim, they are very fast and they didn't make any mistakes. The team also did a perfect strategy. It was a perfect race and to be back on the podium after Imola at the beginning of the season makes me very, very happy."

After leaving Japan, Rossi will be in Monza this weekend for the 3 Hours endurance race of the GT World Challenge Europe championship. Instead, the last WEC round will be the 8 Hours of Bahrain, scheduled for Nov. 2.