Valentino Rossi laments lack of pace after challenging Spa 24 Hours

MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi conceded that he and BMW lacked the pace to challenge for a top-10 result in the Spa 24 Hours.

WRT trio Rossi, Rene Rast and Kevin Magnussen took the chequered flag in a subdued 11th place, a lap down on the winning No. 63 Grasser Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper and Luca Engstler.

Unlike his outing at the Le Mans 24 Hours earlier this month, Rossi enjoyed a largely trouble-free race, with no major technical issues or penalties hurting his chances.

However, the No. 46 BMW was never really in the hunt for a top position, mirroring the struggles of the other four M4 GT3s in the field.

In main qualifying, Rossi, Rast and Magnussen just scraped into Superpole by less than a tenth of a second with what was the 20th-fastest time of the session.

Rossi then got behind the wheel in the final shootout, setting the 18th fastest time to put the car on the ninth row of the grid.

The trio worked their way towards the top 15 early in the race and faced no trouble during the night. But by dawn, it was clear that the No. 46 BMW wasn’t quick enough to make further inroads. An ill-timed full-course yellow in the morning further delayed the crew.

Ultimately, 11th place was the best Rossi, Rast and Magnussen could manage, as they missed out on a top-10 spot to the No. 46 Winward Mercedes of Lucas Auer, Matteo Cairoli and Maro Engel.

For Rossi, this was his second-best finish in Spa 24 Hours in four attempts, having previously finished sixth in 2023 with Augusto Farfus and Maxime Martin.

However, with BMW having won the Nurburgring 24 Hours just the previous week with Rowe Racing, Rossi was naturally disappointed with the result.

“It’s emotional to finish such a race because it involves a lot of effort,” he said afterwards. “The last ten hours were very long.

“I find it more demanding than Le Mans because the track is physically more challenging. I was tired at the end, but I drove well in my last two stints.

“The goal was to finish in the top 10. Unfortunately, we never had the necessary pace for more, we were never fast enough. In the end, we drove a good race, and I got along very well with Kevin and René. I enjoyed it. I also learned a lot, which will make me even stronger next time.”

Spa 24 Hours saw former McLaren and Haas F1 driver Magnussen make his GT3 debut as part of an all-star line-up with Rossi and three-time DTM champion Rast.

The Danish driver, who is competing in the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship after losing his F1 seat, was left with mixed feelings after the race.

“All in all, it was a good experience to compete in this race and to drive the BMW M4 GT3 EVO,” he said.

“It didn’t go the way we hoped but we had a clean race. We didn’t have any issues, we didn’t get any penalties, we didn’t have any damage.

“So we did the best we could and I think we were close to finish in the top ten. It’s obviously not the best result we could wish for but it was a nice experience and I am thankful for the opportunity.

“It was great to share the car with Valentino and René, that was a real privilege. Now I am looking forward to more.”

BMW scored its most recent victory at the Spa 24 Hours in 2023, but was never really a contender in this year’s race.

The No. 98 Rowe Racing BMW was contending for the final spot on the podium before a 30-second penalty for track limits in the final hour dropped Rafaelle Marciello, Jesse Krohn and Augusto Farfus to fifth in the best of the five M4 GT3s.

WRT’s No. 32 and No. 31 entries finished seventh and eighth overall, both a lap down on the leaders like the No. 46 BMW.

WRT team principal Vincent Vosse suggested that the Balance of Performance that governs the GT3 class wasn’t in favour of BMW during the race.

“That was a disappointing race for us,” he said. “I think we BMW M Motorsport teams made the best of the resources available to us. Fifth, seventh, and eighth places reflect the balance of power quite well from my perspective. It’s a shame that we couldn’t fight for victory at our home race this time.”