WRT Confirms Rossi Return With Hesse, Harper

Team WRT has formally confirmed that Valentino Rossi will return to the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS this year at the wheel of one of its BMW M4 GT3 EVOs, and he will be partnered by fellow works drivers Max Hesse and Dan Harper.

Seven-time MotoGP champion Rossi had already revealed he would be making a return to the GTWC Europe this year in a BMW after his two-season spell with WRT in the FIA World Endurance Championship came to an end, but more details about his program have now been announced.

He will be partnered by Hesse for the category’s Sprint Cup competition at the wheel of the No. 46 BMW, the GTWC Europe season marking the latter’s first full campaign with the squad.

The pair will then be joined by Harper for the Endurance Cup rounds — the Northern Irishman having also only made sporadic appearances with WRT in the past.

Rossi scored two wins during his previous three-season spell with the team in the GTWC Europe with a best result of fifth in the 2023 Sprint Cup standings. He was also victorious at Misano last season on a guest appearance.

Both Hesse and Harper made one-off outings in the series last year, while the German contested a full campaign with ROWE Racing the previous year and Harper helped Century Motorsport win the Bronze Cup element of the Sprint competition.

The pair have risen up the BMW ranks together having been named among the first batch of drivers to be part of the manufacturer’s revived Junior Team in 2020.

Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts claimed the overall GTWC Europe title last year with WRT, having also taken Sprint Cup honors.