Rossi turns down Alesi Le Mans offer
December 27, 2009 by Negative Camber
Filed under People & Events
Getting an invitation from former F1 driver Jean Alesi must be quite an honor and that is exactly what MotoGP rider and world champion Valentino Rossi has received. Alesi has offered Rossi a ride to compete with him at this years 24 Hours of Le Mans in June but the schedule may not work for the two-wheel champion.
In a statement made by Rossi’s manager, David Brivio, it seems Rossi will be completely focused on two wheels in June. Reuters reports:
“The truth is that when Vale starts the season, he wants to solely concentrate on bikes. He will compete in rallies and speed events only after the end of the season,” manager Davide Brivio told Sunday’s Gazzetta Sportiva.
The mere fact that Rossi is on many peoples lists to compete in other sporting events show the Italian charisma, skill and whimsical nature as it is not beyond him to venture out of his comfort zone to compete in other forms of motor racing.
Rossi has competed in rally’s and was scheduled to participate in the Rally of Mexico but that seems to be in some doubt as well. If I am Scuderia Toro Rosso, I think I would put rally ace Sebastien Loeb and Rossi in the cars for 2011 and let them run..couldn’t hurt could it?
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I don’t think is a good idea. Those guys are good at what they are doing but F1 is something completely different. If you put them for a GP first they will need a whole lot of training just so there neck can last the full race and second they will be even slower than Badoer. It’s kind of humiliating when you are a big guy in what you do like them and suddenly you are driving last 3 laps behind the leader being the slow guy of the day.
There is no way they can actually be good. If Rossi wants to seriously become an F1 pilot he must stop Moto GP and start doing 100 laps a week for the whole 2010 so he can drive in 2011. Then after a whole 2011 as a learning year he can expect some resolds from 2012. If he has talent that is.(Am talking about F1 talent, don’t start throwing rocks at me).
Yeah, the neck issue is a big one. That’s what makes the old days a little different. You had Jim Clark in F1, F2 and tin-tops on any given weekend but they weren’t pulling the “G’s” they are now.
I kind of miss the days when the racers would do different things. It added a dimension to their craft but there I go with my nostalgic notions. I wonder if Rossi, like Surtees, would be able to translate? Some say that the innate skill comes natural but then Schumi tried bikes and that didn’t really translate.
Loeb would be interesting to see as he’s a 4-wheel champion and I wonder if the skill he has would translate to F1? We’ll see about Kimi.
3-4 years ago when there were no testing restrictions ( rather when Ferrari didn’t comply with gentleman’s agreement amongst the teams), and Ferrari tested 365 days a year, Valentino had done F1 testing 3-4 times(publicly) and he was immediately upto speed, so aptitude is not an issue, and with Valentino attitude was never one as well.
He has done rallies when it has not interfered with the MotoGP season, so given his aptitude, if schedule was not issue he could have done Le Mans, thats what the story is about in first place
These days most start as kids and focus so much into one sport, that it is not enough to train for a few hundred laps and become competitive at the highest level. Yes they can get up to 90-95% but beyond that, as the saying goes the last tenth is the most difficult to reach.