Valentino Rossi will make his Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS debut on October 16-18 in one of BMW and WRT’s two factory supported entries.
The MotoGP legend shares his iconic #46 with current Intercontinental GT Challenge drivers’ championship leader Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts, who won the same title at the Brickyard last year.
BMW’s decision to pair Raffaele Marciello with Augusto Farfus in WRT’s second entry prevents the Brazilian from challenging for the crown. Instead, his Swiss co-driver is now the only contender who can beat Van der Linde, with whom he shared IGTC victories at Suzuka and the Nürburgring.
This also ensures that IGTC’s wait for a two-time drivers’ champion will continue for at least another season. 2020 title winner Farfus slipped from first to third in the standings at Suzuka and is therefore unable to outscore his co-driver Marciello – who lies five points behind Van der Linde – at Indy.
Indianapolis’ driver crew regulations are aligned with GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, which shares its showdown with Intercontinental. As such, all Pro line-ups must feature one Silver or Bronze-graded driver. This is, in #777’s case, Al Faisal Al Zubair who also races a WRT-run BMW in GT World Challenge Europe.
However, it’s undoubtedly Rossi’s appearance that will grab most headlines. The Italian contested two MotoGP races at the Brickyard, winning there on debut in 2008. He’s now an established member of BMW’s factory GT3 roster but has yet to contest an IGTC race on US soil, with his previous appearances coming at Spa, Bathurst and the Gulf 12 Hours.
He has a best IGTC finish of second overall, which he achieved in Australia earlier this year and at Yas Marina in 2023.
WRT’s entries will likely spearhead BMW’s quest for a first IGTC manufacturers’ crown at Indy. However, theirs are by no means the only M4s in contention: Random Vandals has two Pro cars at its disposal while Turner also has a Pro-Am challenger that’s eligible to score points on Bavaria’s behalf.