Misano. During the third Sprint weekend of the GT World
Challenge Europe powered by AWS, Valentino Rossi (ITA) celebrated
another emotional home victory. At the wheel of the Team WRT #46 BMW
M4 GT3 EVO, the local hero triumphed alongside Raffaele Marciello
(SUI) in Saturday’s race in front of numerous euphoric fans in
Emilia-Romagna. With this, Rossi secured his third consecutive win
at the Misano World Circuit, following his victories in 2023 and
2024. Charles Weerts (BEL) and Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) completed
a double podium for BMW M Motorsport by finishing third in
Saturday’s one-hour sprint on the Adriatic coast.
On Sunday, the Belgian-South African duo in the #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO
from Team WRT staged a remarkable comeback, defending their lead in
the Sprint Cup standings. In a race interrupted for more than two
hours by a red flag, van der Linde and Weerts fought their way from
15th on the grid to fifth place, securing valuable points in the
championship battle. One day after their victory, Rossi and Marciello
were again in the fight for the win. Starting from second, Marciello
repeatedly attacked for the lead. However, a drive-through penalty for
speeding in the pit lane dropped the #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO far down the order.
Jens Klingmann (GER) and Al Faisal Al Zubair (OMA) experienced a
tough weekend. In the first qualifying session. Klingmann put the #777
BMW M4 GT3 EVO from AlManar Racing by WRT on second place in the Gold
category, but a start collision forced Klingmann to retire the car
with damage—and also earned a 10-place grid penalty for the second
race. Despite starting 35th on Sunday, Al Zubair and Klingmann fought
their way into the top 20 and narrowly missed the Gold Cup podium by
finishing fourth. Things went better for Gustav Bergström (SWE) and
Gilles Stadsbader (BEL). After finishing fourth on Saturday, they
manoeuvred the #30 BMW M4 GT3 EVO to third in the Silver Cup, securing
a class podium.
In the Bronze category, BMW M works driver Dan Harper and Darren
Leung (both GBR) finished second in the Bronze Cup on Saturday.
However, on Sunday, the British duo from Paradine Competition had no
chance for a podium finish after receiving two penalties—one for the
incident that caused the red flag, and one for an unsafe release.
Their teammates Maxime Oosten and Mex Jansen (both NED) finished
seventh and fifth in the Silver Cup races.
Podium shower in the GT4 European Series
In the GT4 European Series, BMW M Motorsport teams had plenty of
reason to celebrate. Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport claimed two podiums
in the Silver class at Misano: on Saturday, the #12 BMW M4 GT4 EVO
finished third, while on Sunday, the #11 car took second place. In the
Am category, CHAZEL Technologie Course won both races with the #317
BMW M4 GT4 EVO. In the first race, Schubert Motorsport completed a BMW
1-2 finish in class with the #97, and the following day, their #98 BMW
M4 GT4 EVO secured second place in the Pro-Am category. BMW brand
colleagues from Team Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport rounded
off the strong weekend for BMW teams in GT4 with a third-place finish
in class. On Saturday, W&D Racing Team also took third in Pro-Am.
Comments after the race.
Andreas Roos (Head of BMW M Motorsport):
“Congratulations to Team WRT, Valentino Rossi, and Raffaele
Marciello for the win at Misano! That’s the third year in a row
Valentino has triumphed at his home race. He once again proves what a
phenomenal racer he has become on four wheels. It’s unfortunate things
didn’t go ideally for Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts, but
thanks to strong races, they still secured valuable championship
points with P3 and P5. The title fight is still wide open. Thanks to
everyone involved – I’m already looking forward to the next rounds of
the GT World Challenge Europe at Magny-Cours.”
Vincent Vosse (Team Principal, WRT): “It was a
positive weekend. Congrats to Valentino and Raffaele for Saturday’s
win—another success for the team at Misano which further extends our
track record here. The #32 completed the double podium, and with fifth
place on Sunday, they remain well placed in the championship. The #777
had a tough time in the Gold Cup, unfortunately. But congratulations
to the #30 crew for the Silver Cup podium! Overall, we usually take
even more points from Misano than we did this time—but let’s see what
we can do at Magny-Cours.”
Valentino Rossi (Team WRT, #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 1st and 21st):
“It was a very good weekend. We won a race, and just having a
win on the board changes the whole season. I really enjoyed it,
because we were competitive from the beginning. I drove well and kept
improving throughout the weekend. Racing with Raffaele is a pleasure –
he did an amazing job. The car was also very strong. The penalty on
Sunday was really unfortunate – just a small mistake, but after the
drive-through, the whole race was gone. Another podium would have been
great. Maybe we could even have fought for a second win of the weekend.”
Raffaele Marciello (Team WRT, #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 1st and
21st): “Overall, it was a very good weekend. The win on
Saturday – especially sharing it with Valentino in front of the
amazing Italian fans – was fantastic. Unfortunately, I made a small
mistake entering the pits on Sunday and we got a penalty. That was
disappointing, because a second podium would’ve been a perfect way to
finish the weekend.”
Kelvin van der Linde (Team WRT, #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 3rd and
5th): “Mixed feelings after this weekend. We came to Misano
with very high expectations, and we weren’t quite able to meet them.
Still, third and fifth place are important points for the
championship. We’re still leading the Sprint Cup, which is a positive.
We now head to some circuits that might be a bit tougher for us.
Hopefully, we can find some more performance and come back stronger.”
Charles Weerts (Team WRT, #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 3rd and 5th):
“We definitely expected to be stronger. Third and fifth
weren’t what we were hoping for, especially on a track that usually
suits us well – and with the championship entering a crucial stage.
Unfortunately, a few unexpected challenges affected our performance.
There are areas we need to analyse more closely, but we’ll keep pushing.”
Jens Klingmann (AlManar Racing by WRT, #777 BMW M4 GT3 EVO,
DNF and 4th in Gold Cup): “It was a difficult weekend for
us. What hurts most is that we actually had a very strong car, but
couldn’t turn that into results. That makes the disappointment even
bigger. On the positive side, we’re making progress as a team from
race to race, which gives us hope for the rest of the season – even
though we’ve fallen behind in the standings.”
Dan Harper (Paradine Competition, #991 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 2nd and
8th in Bronze Cup): “I really enjoyed being back with
Darren and Paradine Competition. We always have fun and they give me a
fast car. The podium on Saturday was great – and the champagne tasted
good too! Unfortunately, the Ferrari ahead of us was too strong, and
Darren couldn’t make up points in Bronze. On Sunday, Darren was
involved in the big crash. The most important thing is that all
drivers are okay. That shows how safe our GT3 cars are nowadays. In
that sense, it was a very lucky day. From a sporting perspective, we
had no chance after the penalties – but the car was fast, and I still
got to put in some good laps.”