BMW relies on Valentino Rossi/FIA WEC for 2024 WEC season

Valentino Rossi has proven his amazing motorcycle skills over many years. The Italian won nine world titles. He then moved to four-wheel drive racing for the 2022 season and managed to impress there as well. In the World GT Challenge in Europe, he initially drove an Audi R8 LMS GT3 in the first year, and in 2023 he moved to a BMW M4 GT3 (six-cylinder turbo engine with a displacement of 3 liters and up to 590 hp) in the same series and was also a factory driver BMW M. The next step will now follow in 2024.

Because “Il Dottore” will compete in the FIA ​​WEC next year. This is the World Sports Car Championship. Rossi continues to drive the BMW M4 GT3 there. “I’m really looking forward to getting started in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship (WEC). It’s the next step for me to compete in a world championship, racing not only in Europe but around the world again. I know the car well after this season, but the coordination with three drivers from three different performance classes will be new for me. “Overall, I think we will be in a very good position,” Rossi says.

FIA WEC races are long distance races lasting at least 6 hours. Rossi will therefore share the BMW with two other teammates. BMW plans to announce who that will be at a later date. The highlight of the WEC season is the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. Rossi was already familiar with the 13.626-kilometre route in western France when he won Road Le Mans in a BMW in June 2023. This was a support race in the lead-up program for the big classics.

“Valentino Rossi celebrated his strong debut at Le Mans this season and won outright in a BMW M4 GT3. “Overall, his first season as a BMW M driver was very impressive,” said Andreas Ross (President BMW M Motorsport). “I am convinced that it will also play an important role in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship and will be attractive to the fans.”

However, Rossi will not be fighting for overall victories in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship (WEC) next year. Vehicles in the LMGT3 category drive at the end of the field. At the front, supercars (prototypes with more than 680 hp) vie for victories. The season starts in March 2024 in Qatar. Valentino Rossi is widely expected to be in the GT3 cockpit for other races as well as the FIA ​​WEC Championship in 2024. But BMW will also announce that at a later date.

In the second M4 GT3 of the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship, the driver trio will be formed around Brazilian Augusto Farfus. “It is a great honor to be selected by BMW M Motorsport for the FIA ​​WEC programme. Thank you very much for that. “I think the FIA ​​WEC will be the biggest racing platform in the world next to Formula 1. We now know the BMW M4 GT3 very well, which will definitely help us.”