Written by Owen Bradley
MotoGP Legend, Valentino Rossi, has been confirmed by BMW to be participating in the Bahrain rookie test in early November. Rossi will drive the BMW LMDh Prototype, his first test in the BMW M Hybrid V8 car.
Rossi has claimed two podium finishes so far during his debut season in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Imola and at Fuji, alongside his GT World Challenge Teammate, Maxime Martin, and the bronze driver in the No.46 team, Ahmad Al-Harthy.
Despite retirements in three from seven races, the team has impressed many people in the WEC paddock, with the team frequently overcoming poor Qualifying positions on the grid to run in the Top 3, like they did at the Le Mans 24 Hours earlier this season.
Rossi also races in the GT World Challenge, and has already secured a victory earlier this season at Misano, making it a double podium weekend with a third place finish in Race 2 of the weekend as well. With the Italian also entering various one-off races like the Bathurst 12 Hours and Gulf 12 Hours last season, Rossi has been gaining a lot of experience on four wheels.
An LMP2 test with Team WRT would come at the end of the 2023 season at Bahrain, shortly before it was announced that Rossi would enter the WEC in LMGT3 for the full season. Rossi managed to impress a lot of people, setting a fastest time just over a second from some current Hypercar drivers in the WEC.
However, with the MotoGP legend still relatively new to Sportscar racing, only in his third season this year, it is expected that Rossi will stay in LMGT3 next year and potentially attempt a run at World Championship glory.
Rossi's teammate Maxime Martin has appeared several times throughout the IMSA championship this year, the Belgian driving in the GTP, which is the equivalent to WEC's Hypercar class. Therefore, with Rossi certainly gaining knowledge from Martin, the gap in lap times between the pair has come down considerably from what it was back at the start of their partnership in 2023.
Rossi, in an exclusive interview with Autosport, revealed: "At the Rookie Test I'm going to try the BMW LMDh and I'm very, very happy because last year I got to drive the LMP2, so the next goal is to see what the M Hybrid V8 is like. And then who knows, maybe in the future there will be a place in Hypercar. Let's see."
Valentino Rossi will race this weekend in the GT World Challenge Europe Monza Endurance round, as the end of the season draws closer for both his GTWC and WEC championship campaigns.
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