Rossi return confirmed as WRT announces WEC LMGT3 lineups
Team WRT's driver lineups for its upcoming FIA WEC LMGT3 campaign with the new-for-2025 BMW M4 GT3 EVO have been revealed on Tuesday morning. (...)
Team WRT’s driver lineups for its upcoming FIA WEC LMGT3 campaign with the new-for-2025 BMW M4 GT3 EVO have been revealed on Tuesday morning.
The headline news is the return of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi. He will share the No. 46 (which was originally listed as No. 32 on the provisional full-season entry) with new BMW factory driver Kelvin van der Linde (who replaces Maxime Martin), and Bronze-rated Ahmad Al Harthy.
The Italian, who told reporters in Bahrain he would compete in either WEC or World Challenge in 2025 and decide in the off-season, has chosen the World Championship and is pleased to be back.
“Very happy to continue my experience in the FIA WEC, as last year was a strong debut season,” Rossi said in Tuesday morning’s announcement. “We had some good races including two podiums and we want to try to be stronger and faster. We will work hard together with BMW M Motorsport to improve our performance and be more competitive in every race.
“It’s great to once again race at some fantastic tracks, that I know well from racing motorcycles, and this makes me enjoy racing in the FIA WEC. Le Mans is of course the most important one, we were unlucky last year, but we will fight for the podium in 2025!”
The sister car meanwhile has two changes to its lineup. The No. 31 – which will now run under The Bend Team WRT banner – will be shared by factory ace Augusto Farfus, former AKKODIS ASP driver Timur Boguslavskiy and Yasser Shahin, who joins the team after winning Le Mans and finishing second in the 2024 LMGT3 standings with Manthey.
“As with our Hypercar works programs, we can look forward to great BMW M Motorsport driver line-ups in the GT3 customer racing programmes of the FIA WEC and IMSA series in 2025,” said Andreas Roos, the head of BMW M Motorsport.
“I congratulate Team WRT on once again securing some of the best Silver and Bronze drivers for the cockpits of our two new BMW M4 GT3 EVOs. They will hopefully create many great moments alongside our three works drivers.”
What's Your Reaction?
