Valentino Rossi to trial LMP2 car ahead of BMW WEC hypercar test

Seven-times Moto GP world champion and current BMW GT racer Valentino Rossi will participate in this weekend’s WEC rookie test in Bahrain with WRT.

Rossi, who races for WRT in the GT World Challenge series alongside Maxime Martin in a BMW M4 GT3 car, will run in WRT’s LMP2 car in Sunday’s rookie test, held the day after the WEC season-ending Eight Hours of Bahrain.

Rossi won the second GT World Challenge Europe sprint series race in Misano with Martin and took three podium appearances through the season as the pair finished fifth in the standings.

WRT will run BMW’s LMDh hypercar next season when the German manufacturer enters the World Endurance Championship. Rossi has never competed in the WEC, but the 44-year-old says the post-Bahrain test will be an opportunity for him to try his skills in a high downforce car due to his ambitions to race in the series.

“I’m very happy to be trying the LMP2 for the first time,” Rossi said.

“It’s a great opportunity from WRT, because we have plans for me to test the BMW hypercar in the future. So, before testing that, I think it’s good experience to try the LMP2 as it’s similar in terms of downforce and I’m curious to understand my potential.

“I’m also looking forward to being in Bahrain to watch the final race of the season, and as I’m hoping to race in the WEC in the future, it will be good to understand the atmosphere and the structure of the event.”

Also participating in the WEC rookie test are Stoffel Vandoorne for Peugeot, Robert Shwartzman for Ferrari, 17-year-old Josh Pierson for Toyota, and F2 racer Clement Novalak for Inter Europol Competition’s LMP2 team among others.

Rossi has also previously tested a Formula 1 car on multiple occasions, driving Ferrari’s F2004 in 2006 and sampling Lewis Hamilton’s 2017 Mercedes W08 in 2019.

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