Rossi rues missed chance to battle Verstappen: 'We would have been close'

In qualifying, the average of each driver's best lap times determines the grid order. In Q1, Q2 and Q3, all three drivers of each car complete flying laps.

Rossi explained that they had been on course for a strong result after he set a decent lap on the Portuguese circuit. He also explained that lap would have put them close to Max Verstappen's #3 Mercedes-AMG as well.

Speaking to Sky Italia after the session, the MotoGP legend began: "We’re very, very disappointed because the lap had been good, the weather was good, and it would have allowed us to start very close to Verstappen and very close to the #32, our teammates, so it had been a good qualifying session."

However, track limits meant his lap time was deleted, but afterwards, he did not set another one.

Rossi explained what happened: "Honestly, I was expecting it because I had always left myself a little bit of margin in all the risky corners, but at Turn 4, I went over the limit by just a tiny bit. I was close to another car, so I went a little wide, and that meant I exceeded track limits.

By the time Rossi was notified that his lap time had been deleted, it was too late for the Italian to set another competitive time. "We were left without a time and will start second-to-last, 60th, something like that."

He concluded: "So it’s a shame because we could have fought with Verstappen, as we were right there, and it would have been great. But instead, this is how it’s turned out."

Today, the final endurance race of the GT World Challenge Europe season will begin at 17:00 GMT (18:00 CEST) at the Portimao circuit. The three-hour race is scheduled to finish at around 20:00 GMT (21:00 CEST).

Verstappen and his team are set to start Saturday’s race from 15th on the grid and will aim to climb through the field.