Nine-time world motorcycling champion Valentino Rossi will return for a second term in the FIA World Endurance Championship, after the Italian was confirmed in the Team WRT line-up for 2025.
Rossi enjoyed an encouraging maiden campaign in the series’ fiercely-disputed LMGT3 category last year, finishing just shy of the podium on his bow in Qatar alongside team-mates Ahmad Al Harthy and Maxime Martin before popularly snaring the runner-up spoils next time out on home soil at Imola. Following a starring turn in the lead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a second rostrum result was achieved at Fuji, as the trio secured sixth spot in the final championship standings in their BMW M4 LMGT3.
Martin has since departed to pastures new with Mercedes-AMG and Iron Lynx, meaning Rossi and Al Harthy will be partnered by Kelvin van der Linde in the #46 entry this season. The South African – elder brother of BMW M Team WRT Hypercar driver Sheldon van der Linde – was recently appointed to the BMW M works stable and joins from Akkodis ASP Team, for whom he competed in 2024.
In the sister #31 car, Timur Boguslavskiy has similarly made the move from Lexus machinery, with Yasser Shahin arriving from Manthey EMA, having piloted the German outfit’s Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 to second in the FIA WEC title table last year, triumphing at Le Mans along the way. The Australian also won the Pro-Am class in the legendary Bathurst 12 Hour race, while Boguslavskiy was crowned GT World Challenge Europe champion in both 2019 and 2023.
Replacing United Autosports-bound Sean Gelael and Darren Leung, the pair will team up with the incumbent Augusto Farfus, who spearheaded Team WRT’s one-two finish at Imola last April and took the chequered flag second at La Sarthe en route to fourth in the Drivers’ classification.
The upgraded BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO got off to a flying start last weekend by scorching to overall honours in the 20th anniversary edition of the 24H Dubai, raising expectations for further silverware and a successful season ahead in FIA WEC.
