Photo: DTM Media

Valentino Rossi tested for Mercedes

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Today, Valentino Rossi contested his maiden DTM test, at Hockenheim. The 27-year old Italian MotoGP superstar succeeded in quickly adapting to the Mercedes-Benz DTM racer and impressed by setting fast and consistent lap times at the wheel of Mika Häkkinen’s 2006-spec AMG-Mercedes C-Class.

Following his Ferrari Formula 1 tests carried out past winter, the DTM test represented another opportunity for the runner-up in the 2006 MotoGP World championship to prove his skills on four wheels. Valentino, an avowing DTM fan, had wished to be offered this testing opportunity.

Valentino Rossi may look back on 16 years of motor racing experience. Following his beginnings in kart racing, back in 1990, he moved from four to two wheels just one year later – then twelve years old – to contest mini-bike races. From this point in time, it took him just five years to enter Motorbike World Championship racing.

In 1996, his debut season in the 125cc category, he secured his maiden GP win and in the following year, he clinched the title – to afterwards never finish worse than runner-up in the category he competed in. In 1999, he secured the title in the 250cc category, in 2001 in the 500cc class – and from 2002 to 2005, he prevailed four consecutive times at the pinnacle of bike racing – the MotoGP.

To date, Rossi has contested 173 GPs and won 84 of them. In the past, numerous former motorbike racers made the move to four wheels. Drivers such as Johnny Cecotto who secured the Motorbike World Championship back in 1975, then 19 years old, and contested the 1988 DTM season for Mercedes-Benz following seasons in Formula 2 and Formula 1. The only Motorbike World Champion to also win the Formula 1 title, however, was John Surtees. From 1956 to 1960, the Englishman clinched seven Motorbike World Championships before repeating this feat at the wheel of a Formula 1 Ferrari in 1964.

Valentino Rossi: “The test was truly big fun. The AMG-Mercedes C-Class is an impressive racing car and handles nearly as a single-seater. Still, I don’t yet know if I’m ever going to contest races on four wheels. But it’s good to know that I wouldn’t look too bad if I did so and I’d like to than Mercedes-Benz for this opportunity.”

Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Director Norbert Haug: “Valentino is a true motor racing icon. He got on well with the AMG-Mercedes C-Class right from the start. He is an extraordinary racing driver, with his seven Motorbike World Championship titles representing an outstanding record. And he also succeeded in proving his skills at the wheel of the racing car.”

“With his humorous character and his likeable attitude he gained the friendship of the team members right away. This test with a driver as renowned as Valentino Rossi represents an accolade for the race series DTM, even if this doesn’t mean that Valentino is going to move now from bike riding to tin-top racing.”