Valentino Rossi to undergo a WEC test
Valentino Rossi will take part in the World Endurance Championship rookie test this weekend, which will take place in the aftermath of the season-ending 8 Hours of Bahrain.
He will be driving the WRT LMP2 car on Sunday 5th November, alongside a field of drivers that will include Lilou Wadoux, who became the first female driver to score an outright class victory in the WEC earlier this year when she won the LMGTE Am class at the Spa 6 Hours.
In all there will be nine Hypercar, five LMP2 and four LMGTE Am spots available for a crop of young, or new drivers to cut their teeth in new machinery, or in the case of Rossi, have their first taste of driving in the WEC.
Since his retirement from MotoGP, after nearly 30 years of racing motorcycles, The Doctor has turned his attention to racing on four wheels. He joined WRT in 2022 to race an Audi R8 LMS Evo II in GT World Challenge Europe, where he made his debut appearance at the Spa 24 Hours.
In 2023, WRT became a BMW factory outfit, and Rossi won his first GT World Challenge race at Masina at the wheel of the BMW M4 GT3.
A move to the WEC represents a logical next step for Rossi with WRT, so this does appear to be a genuine opportunity for the 44-year-old to prove his speed, likely with a view to racing at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2024.
The WEC rookie test will also see Josh Pierson, Jack Hawsworth and Ben Barnicoat share a Toyota GR010 Hybrid, Wadoux will be at the wheel of the Le Mans-winning Ferrari 499P alongside Robert Shwartzman. Stoffel Vandoorne will sit in a Peugeot 9X8, while Pietro Fitipaldi will step up from his LMP2 duties to test the Jota-run Porsche 963.
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.
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