BMW and Group WRT have confirmed a major change to their LMGT3 programme for the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship, with Valentino Rossi not a part of the WEC driver line-up. The choice brings Rossi’s two-season run within the collection to an finish. It stays to be seen what his involvement with BMW Motorsport will proceed to be in 2026.
Good Outcomes With BMW Motorsport
Rossi has been intently related to BMW’s LMGT3 effort for the reason that class’s debut in 2024. Driving the #46 BMW M4 LMGT3, the nine-time MotoGP world champion shortly turned some of the recognizable figures within the WEC paddock. Throughout 16 begins, Rossi scored 4 podium finishes, together with a powerful third place at Imola in simply his second WEC look and one other podium later that yr at Fuji. In 2025, he returned to the Imola podium once more, though a penalty following contact finally denied him a sensible shot at a first-class victory.
The #46 crew, shared with Kelvin van der Linde and Ahmad Al Harthy, completed eighth within the LMGT3 standings in 2025. Whereas the outcomes have been strong, the season was additionally marked by frustration, most notably at Le Mans. After a standout qualifying efficiency that put the automotive firmly in rivalry for sophistication honors, {an electrical} subject throughout the night time rendered the M4 unsafe to proceed, forcing a second consecutive retirement on the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A robust run at Circuit of the Americas later within the yr, the place the automotive completed second, underlined the underlying tempo of the bundle.
Regardless of these highlights, BMW and WRT’s press launch saying the 2026 LMGT3 line-ups made no point out of Rossi. The #46 entry might be changed by the #69 BMW M4 LMGT3, crewed by Anthony McIntosh, Dan Harper, and Parker Thompson. Rossi, who turns 47 subsequent yr, was on a manufacturing unit BMW contract set to run out on the finish of 2025, and his future within the WEC had been unsure for a lot of the season.
Rossi’s Historical past in GT Racing
Since stepping away from MotoGP on the finish of 2021, Rossi has constructed a reputable résumé in GT racing. He joined WRT in GT World Problem Europe in 2022 and has since claimed three dash race victories within the collection, together with podium finishes at main endurance occasions such because the Bathurst 12 Hour, Gulf 12 Hour, and Dubai 24 Hours. At the same time as he lowered his total racing commitments in 2025, Rossi nonetheless appeared at marquee occasions together with Bathurst and the 24 Hours of Spa, securing one other podium in Australia. He additionally performed a job in WRT’s victory on the Indianapolis 8 Hours, the ultimate spherical of the Intercontinental GT Problem, simply forward of the 2025 WEC finale in Bahrain.
Rossi has made no secret of his ambition to maneuver as much as the Hypercar class. He sampled the BMW M Hybrid V8 throughout the 2024 Bahrain rookie check and has acknowledged on a number of events that the prototype fits his driving model higher than GT3 equipment. For now, nonetheless, there isn’t a indication {that a} Hypercar programme is imminent. The probably subsequent step seems to be a return to GT World Problem Europe, the place he beforehand mixed dash and endurance racing together with his WEC commitments.
BMW M4 CS Version VR46
Though Rossi’s WEC chapter with BMW has come to a detailed, his relationship with the model stays broader than racing alone. Earlier this yr, BMW unveiled the BMW M4 CS Version VR46, a limited-run mannequin developed in collaboration with Rossi and impressed by his iconic racing quantity and coloration palette. The automotive underscored Rossi’s continued relevance inside BMW’s efficiency and life-style narrative, at the same time as his manufacturing unit racing position evolves.
For WRT and BMW, the 2026 WEC season represents a reset on the LMGT3 facet, with a youthful driver line-up and a clearer long-term growth focus. For Rossi, it’s one other pivot in a post-MotoGP profession that has already confirmed extra substantial and aggressive than many initially anticipated, even when a 3rd season within the World Endurance Championship is not a part of the plan.
[Source: Motorsport]
