Van der Linde sees Rossi’s final two or three tenths as out of reach

Kelvin van der Linde said earlier this year that Valentino Rossi remains a competitive endurance racer, but believes the nine-time MotoGP champion’s age and late move to GT racing have made the final two or three tenths of pace too difficult to find. He expects Rossi to keep succeeding in endurance racing.

Those remarks came ahead of the GT World Challenge Endurance finale in Portimão, where Rossi and Max Verstappen were due to share a track competitively for the first time. Verstappen was set to drive a Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, while Rossi was to race a BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Van der Linde, a South African BMW factory driver, had spent a lengthy period as Rossi’s team-mate and shared a car with him on several occasions. Rossi switched to four-wheel racing with Team WRT in 2022 and joined BMW in 2023.

Van der Linde said Rossi’s different background meant he had to do more groundwork to become fast than a driver who had come up through the GT ranks. Rossi was already over 40 when he began GT racing, he noted. Van der Linde added that even the best drivers can struggle to remain at their peak at 46.

He also praised Rossi’s attention to detail: Rossi wants to understand everything about the car and keeps asking questions in search of even a small advantage, Van der Linde said. Away from the track, he sees a similar quality in Verstappen, praising both drivers’ patience with fans.