The first year was one for the books, by the way. Beforehand, it was a bit tense for the initiators: would everything go well? That was the case. And the race couldn’t have been better either. Rossi won his 100th Grand Prix of his career that day. “We were curious what would happen next. Because he knew there was a stand for him.”
The Italian fan club had made a banner with all of Rossi’s victories on it. That curtain was rolled out in front of the Rossi Tribune. “Everything came together that day. It really couldn’t be better.”
Rossi later won the 2013, 2015 and 2017 TTs. “He celebrated all our victories with us,” Wever says proudly. “But even if he was fourth or fifth, he drove by waving. Still, the best memories are of course those victories.” He likes to think back to the race in 2015, with the infamous clash between Rossi and Marc Márquez in the Geert Timmer corner. “Márquez braked very late. Rossi already turned in, then there was contact. Rossi drove through the gravel break, pulled up his engine and crossed the line first. In the beginning it was still exciting whether it was legal, but no further steps were taken, so the party was complete.”
The last years of his career Rossi drove a bit on the margins. There were sounds that The Doctor was past its expiration date. Weaver has mixed feelings about it. “Occasionally it was painful, because there was no good result. Sometimes I also thought that he should have stopped long ago, but I also looked at it differently.”
Wever continues: “It is very impressive what he still achieved at his age. I went to his very last race in Valencia, when he was still tenth. He had nothing to gain, but everything to lose.”
Last year we spoke to Marijn Wever about the – then probably – last TT of Rossi.