Valentino Rossi and Alessio ‘Uccio’ Salucci finished 18th overall in the opening round of the three-hour Blancpain Endurance Series that took place at the historic circuit of Monza on Sunday afternoon.
The race was conducted in treacherous and monsonic weather conditions due to mini-cyclone Lucy that hit Italy during the weekend with the safety car entering the race numerous times.
In the first hour of the race Rossi was at the wheel and was 9th after qualifying in 10th, but when it was Uccio’s turn to take the wheel he dropped back to 29th after an incident with the #31 Lamborghini also running off track, he managed to return to the race with steering wheel issues.
The final hour saw Rossi bring the Ferrari 458 Italia into 18th (ninth in the Pro-Am class) and finish the race one lap and 1.
57.
8s from Marc VDS Racing team (Bas Leinders, Markus Palttala and Maxime Martin) who took the victory.