Valentino Rossi’s team-mates revealed for BMW WEC and GTWCE campaigns

The seven-time MotoGP world champion will share a Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 in both series this year with factory driver Martin, continuing a partnership that began in 2023 in the GTWCE.

Martin and Rossi, who will be the silver-rated driver in the line-up, will drive in the WEC’s new LMGT3 class together with bronze Ahmad Al Harthy.

Rossi and Martin will then be joined by new BMW signing Marciello in the Pro class of the GTWCE Endurance Cup, which includes the Spa 24 Hours at the end of June.

An assault by Rossi and Martin will also be made on the opening two rounds of the GTWCE Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch and Misano in May.

These are the two circuits on which the Italian motorcycle legend scored his best results last year: he notched up a first GTWCE podium at Brands together with Martin before they went on to take a maiden victory at Misano.

Al Harthy from Oman is moving over to WRT after a maiden season in the WEC in 2023 with the TF Sport Aston Martin team.

The confirmation of a GTWCE programme for Rossi, first revealed by Autosport last month, means the Italian will contest a minimum of 16 race weekends in what will be his third season with the Belgian team after switching to car racing full time following his retirement from MotoGP.

That tally will be made up of eight races in the WEC, five GTWCE enduros, the two double-header events in the sprint segment of the series, and the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, the Bathurst 12 Hours this month.

“I am very happy with my 2024 programme and I can’t wait to start,” said Rossi, 44.

“In the GTWCE, I’ll race the Endurance Cup together with Maxime and Lello, two fantastic drivers, and I think we can be very strong.

“The WEC will be new for me: I’ll be with Maxime and Ahmad, and I’m eager to race in the main event at Le Mans, and at places like Austin and Sao Paulo.

“[It will be] a brand new experience for me and hopefully we will be competitive.”

#46 Team WRT, BMW M4 GT3: Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin

Photo by: BMW Motorsport

Martin said he was “happy to be back with Vale” for 2024.

Marciello, whose primary programme will be racing for WRT in the Hypercar class of the WEC aboard one of its BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs, described the GTWCE line-up as “a very strong ticket”.

BMW stalwart Augusto Farfus, who like Rossi was listed against one of the WRT M4s on the publication of the 2024 WEC entry in November, will be joined in #31 by Sean Gelael and Darren Leung.

Silver-ranked Gelael is moving over to LMGT3 after two years with WRT in LMP2 in the WEC, which yielded the runner-up spot in the points in 2022.

Leung moves up to the WEC after winning last year’s British GT Championship paired with BMW factory driver Dan Harper at the Century Motorsport squad.

WRT will run a further Pro class M4 in the GTWCE enduros for the all-factory line-up of Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde and Charles Weerts.

Vanthoor and Weerts will also contest the Sprint Cup in which they will be bidding for a fourth title in five seasons.

Al Harthy’s programme also encompasses the GTWCE enduros in the Bronze Cup class: he will share with factory driver Jens Klingmann and Sam De Haan.

Briton De Haan will then take part in the sprints with Callan Williams, while the line-up in a third full-season car for the short-format GTWCE races has yet to be announced.