Valentino Rossi lapped his ranch with a GoPro - here’s the footage
Jump on-board with Valentino Rossi for an afternoon of flat tracking with his VR46 Academy riders
Valentino Rossi may be almost three years into retirement from professional motorcycle racing, but that’s not stopping him ripping a YZ450F around his Motor Ranch.
A new video posted by Rossi to his social media channels takes you on-board with him, and reigning MotoGP World Champion Francesco Bagnaia, for an afternoon of flat track, erm, training also featuring VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi.
Despite his absence from the MotoGP grid in recent years, Rossi clearly still hasn’t lost his touch on the loose stuff, taking the battle to both Bezzecchi and Bagnaia over the course of a few laps of the Motor Ranch.
It’s unclear exactly when the video is taken from, but considering the events of last weekend’s Aragon Grand Prix, Alex Marquez fans watching might be relieved to see Bagnaia backing out of a move around the outside of Bezzecchi into one of the track’s two tight hairpins.
While Bagnaia and Marquez were making contact in Aragon, Rossi was making ground in Texas at the Lone Star Le Mans, the 6 Hours of COTA at the Circuit of the Americas.
The #46 BMW qualified only 15th, but was up to fourth and chasing down third place with around 15 minutes left on the clock in the sixth round of this year’s World Endurance Championship, only for a mechanical problem to put Rossi, Ahmad Al Harthy, and Maxime Martin out of the race almost within touching distance (in the context of a six-hour race) of the finish.
Before the retirement, and despite the near-four-celsius ambient temperatures in Austin last weekend, Rossi seemed to be enjoying the WEC race. Probably not as much as he enjoys flat tracking with the likes of Bezzecchi and Bagnaia, though, we reckon.
