Valentino Rossi will be able to test the LMDh of BMW, a brand to which he has recently been linked. The German manufacturer has indeed indicated that it plans to offer the Italian driver, who moved from MotoGP to Endurance car last year, a test run at the wheel of his M Hybrid V8, probably towards the end of the year. This follows the announcement, just before Christmas, of Rossi’s arrival in the BMW works team in GT3 for what will be his second full season in car racing.
BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos said: “We are planning to give him the opportunity to do a test. There are plans to give him the opportunity to experience a cool auto like the GTP [catégorie dans laquelle la M Hybrid V8 courra en IMSA, ndlr]. The GT3 is already a cool car, but a GTP is clearly on another level.”
Andreas Roos, however, ruled out that Valentino Rossi could carry out this test in the short term, knowing that BMW is embarking on its first season with this car in the North American championship. “If it happens this year, it will clearly be later in the year,” he indicated. “I think we all have enough work right now and enough things to sort out in order to be as prepared as possible. [pour la saison d’IMSA].”
The BMW M Hybrid V8
The German official did not wish to specify whether BMW intended to see Rossi race at the wheel of the M Hybrid V8 in the future, whether in IMSA with the Rahal team or in the WEC. The Bavarian manufacturer will enter the Hypercar category of the world championship in 2024 with the WRT team, the one that led Rossi to a new career on four wheels last season.
“The first objective for Valentino is to be part of our line-up of drivers in the GT3 program”, he pointed out. “Since he’s never driven a car like this [la M Hybrid V8], we will start by having him in the car and seeing how he gets on with her, how he feels in the car. There will be tests and from there we will see what the next steps can be, if there is the possibility or not [qu’il coure avec la M Hybrid V8].”
Andreas Roos added that he is still “a bit too soon” to speculate on what might be possible in the future. As we know, Valentino Rossi has expressed his desire to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans one day, but he has not yet set a timetable for doing so. He just clarified that he didn’t expect this to happen in 2023.
The Italian driver remains with WRT, which is switching from Audi to BMW this season, and he will again take part in the Endurance and Sprint Cup races of the GT World Challenge Europe. He will share one of the Belgian team’s BMW M4 GT3s with Maxime Martin (in Sprint Cup and Endurance) and Augusto Farfus (in Endurance). WRT will also have an Intercontinental GT Challenge program starting at the 12 Hours of Bathurst, that Rossi will compete alongside these same teammates.