Valentino Rossi Driver Profile: The MotoGP Legend Who Became a GT3 Winner With Team WRT
He won nine world championships on two wheels and retired from MotoGP as one of the most famous riders the sport has known. On four wheels, Valentino Rossi has built a second career that is no publicity stunt: he races full-time in GT World Challenge Europe with Team WRT, has won three times at Misano and carries the same number 46 on his BMW M4 GT3 that he made famous on a motorcycle. At Portimão on 17 October he meets Max Verstappen on track for the first time.
Valentino Rossi: Fast Facts
- Date of birth: 16 February 1979
- Born in: Urbino, Italy
- Nationality: Italian
- Racing number: 46
- Nickname: The Doctor
- Team: Team WRT
- Car: No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 Evo
- 2026 series: GT World Challenge Europe, Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup
- 2026 teammates: Max Hesse (both cups), Dan Harper (Endurance Cup)
- Before cars: nine-time motorcycle world champion, retired from MotoGP at the end of 2021
From MotoGP to GT3
Rossi’s motorcycle career needs little introduction, and this profile is about the second one. The link between the two is Misano, close to Tavullia, where he grew up. “Misano is for me very special because it was my first track,” he told SRO in July. “I was there in 1992, riding a Cagiva 125 two-stroke.”
He had already driven GT3 cars while he was still racing in MotoGP, but his first GT World Challenge race came at Misano in 2022. Since 2023 he has raced for Team WRT in a BMW M4 GT3.
Three wins at Misano
Rossi’s first GT World Challenge victory came at Misano in 2023, in the Sprint Cup, and he won there again in 2024 and 2025. All three wins came with Team WRT and BMW, with Maxime Martin as his teammate in 2023 and 2024 and Raffaele Marciello in 2025. “When I started competing in cars, I was not certain if I was able to win,” Rossi said of the first one. “For sure the feeling was different than the others; it was special.”
Away from Misano, he has won the Indianapolis 8 Hour and twice finished on the podium at the Bathurst 12 Hour, according to SRO.
Valentino Rossi in 2026
For 2026 Rossi returned to a full GT World Challenge Europe programme in the number 46 Team WRT BMW, sharing with Max Hesse in the Sprint Cup and with Hesse and Dan Harper in the Endurance Cup.
His best Endurance result came at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, his fifth start in the race, where the trio finished sixth as the best-placed BMW. At Misano in July he took his first-ever pole position in the series, then finished sixth in Race 1 and fourth in Race 2. He was also fourth in Race 2 at Brands Hatch and, after taking over the car from Hesse, fourth in Race 2 at Zandvoort. Going into the finale he is 16th in the overall standings with 46.5 points, according to the official SRO standings.
Rossi himself says he is still learning. “If you want to compete with the top guys you need to understand how to get the car to the limit, especially with the braking, corner entry, using the aero,” he said in July. “I think I am still learning!”
Portimão: Rossi against Verstappen
At the Endurance Cup finale at Portimão, Rossi shares the number 46 with Hesse and Neil Verhagen in the Pro class, according to the entry list. In the same class is the number 3 Mercedes-AMG of Max Verstappen, who makes his GT World Challenge debut. It will be the first time the two have raced each other. Verstappen has said he hopes not to cross paths with Rossi on track, Motorsport.com reported.
The three-hour race starts on Saturday 17 October at 17:00 local time, 18:00 in the Netherlands. More on the weekend in our Verstappen at Portimão preview.