Valentino Rossi, will compete in the 2023 LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour.
The 43-year-old Italian, a seven-time World Champion in the top level of MotoGP competition, will drive a BMW M4 GT3 for 2018 12-Hour winners Team WRT at the February 3-5 event next year.
Rossi will be the highest profile driver to compete in Australia’s International Endurance race since its re-launch in 2007.
Having retired from two-wheeled competition following the 2021 season, Rossi has turned his attention to circuit racing and this year competed for WRT in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint and Endurance Championships, including tackling the famous Spa 24 Hour race.
It will mark Rossi’s debut at Mount Panorama, however the Italian is accustomed to success in Australia as a record eight-time winner of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.
His co-drivers will be experienced GT and Endurance specialists, Belgian Maxime Martin and Brazilian Augusto Farfus.
Both have previous Bathurst experience to their credit: Martin in 2020 and Farfus on three occasions, in 2018, 19 and 2020 – including finishing fifth in the 2019 race with Chaz Mostert as a co-driver.
Rossi’s car will naturally sport his iconic number 46.
The 2023 LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour will represent the Australian racing debut of the brand-new BMW M4 GT3 car. BMW, a brand with a Bathurst history dating back to the early 1980s, has never won the 12-hour in the current International GT3 era however scored pole position for the race in 2018.
Belgian-based WRT (W Racing Team) was founded in 2009 and has become one of the most successful GT, Touring Car and Endurance Racing teams in Europe. The team has won more than 50 championships and major races including the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, Dubai 24 Hour and the Suzuka 10 Hours. In 2018, while representing Audi, they claimed victory at Mount Panorama in a dramatic Bathurst 12 Hour.
