BMW confirms Rossi's LMDh outing in Bahrain WEC test

Rossi finally gets a chance to test an LMDh car, a plan that has been in the works ever since he joined BMW as a factory driver

Valentino Rossi’s run in BMW’s M Hybrid V8 LMDh at the World Endurance Championship rookie test in Bahrain next month has been confirmed. 

BMW has officially revealed the seven-time MotoGP champion’s participation in the test with the factory WRT Hypercar class squad on the day after the final round of the 2024 WEC along with that of fellow factory drivers Dan Harper and Max Hesse. 

The confirmation comes four weeks after Rossi, who is racing a WRT BMW in the LMGT3 class of the WEC as well as in the GT World Challenge Europe, unilaterally announced that his promised run in the M Hybrid would come as expected at the rookie test. 

Rossi, who got his first taste of a prototype in a WRT-run ORECA-Gibson 07 LMP2 at the rookie test last year, said: “I am thrilled that I can test the Hypercar - we have been looking for a date for a long time, and now it has finally worked out. 

“I really wanted to do this test to get a feel for what the BMW M Hybrid V8 can do. Many thanks to BMW M Motorsport for this opportunity.”

BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos added that he is “looking forward to seeing what our rookies can do”.

Briton Harper and German Hesse are being given an outing in the M Hybrid after impressing at the wheel of BMW’s M4 GT3 since their graduation from the marque’s revived junior programme to full factory status for 2023.

Their successes together this year include a third-place finish in the Nurburgring 24 Hours with the RMG team and a GTWCE Endurance Cup victory at Paul Ricard in April, sharing an M4 GT3 with Charles Weerts and Augusto Farfus respectively. 

Harper and Hesse have already driven the M Hybrid: they have undertaken aerodynamic testing and Hesse has been involved in development on the simulator.

Rossi, Harper and Hesse join a growing list of drivers confirmed to take part in the rookie test in Bahrain aboard Hypercar machinery.

It includes Theo Pourchaire and Clement Novalak with Peugeot, Victor Martins with Alpine and Arthur Leclerc with Ferrari. 

Esteban Masson will be given a run with Toyota after racing for sister marque Lexus in LMGT3 this year.

Reshad de Gerus, who finished third in LMP2 at the Le Mans 24 Hours with IDEC Sport this year, has been nominated to take part by the series organiser. 

The Frenchman will drive for whichever marque wins the manufacturers’ title. 

Cadillac has also announced a trio of drivers for the test.

They are Frederik Vesti, who was announced as part of the Action Express Racing team’s IMSA SportsCar Championship line-up on Wednesday, and Daniel Juncadella and Charlie Eastwood, both members of Cadillac sister marque Chevrolet’s factory roster.

Mathieu Jaminet, who races Porsche’s LMDh in IMSA, is listed against one of the factory Penske-run entries in advance of a 2025 campaign that will include selected WEC outings, including at Le Mans.

Formula 3 driver Charlie Wurz, son of two-time Le Mans winner Alex, will run in Proton Competition’s customer Porsche.

Ferrari will give a run to new-for-2024 factory driver Thomas Neubauer as well as the younger of the Leclerc brothers.

The solo Iron Lynx-run Lamborghini Hypercar entry will be sampled by Franck Perera and Jordan Pepper from the Italian marque’s GT3 roster.

Tom Gamble and Mattia Drudi, respectively factory drivers with McLaren and Aston Martin, will drive for their manufacturer’s representative in LMGT3, United Autosports and Heart of Racing.

Aurelien Panis, whose father is Formula 1 race winner Olivier, will drive a Lexus LMGT3 for the Auto Sport Promotion team after finishing runner-up in the GTWC Sprint Cup Silver Cup class points driving a Boutsen VDS Mercedes this year.

Autosport says

Valentino Rossi driving a car that competes for outright honours in the WEC and at Le Mans  may grab the headlines for BMW as well as the series, but his run shouldn’t be regarded as a try-out for a seat in one of the M Hybrids for next year or any other time. 

This is a PR opportunity and a bit of fun for Rossi. We shouldn’t forget that his post-MotoGP career on four wheels is as much about enjoyment as trying to win races. 

Rossi has stated that his target isn’t to race BMW’s LMDh, though he has qualified that with a ‘you never know’. 

The reality is that he is nearly 46 and coming to the end of only his third full season of car racing. He’s not on the pace of his professional team-mates in the M4 GT3, so it would be unrealistic to expect him to match them in a prototype. 

Hypercar in the WEC is far too competitive to have any weak links in the chain.

The world shouldn’t be speculating whether Rossi will ever race the M Hybrid, rather where he will be competing in 2025. The Italian plans to cut back on his schedule next year and will have to decide between the WEC and the GTWCE.