Valentino Rossi wins first GT3 race in GT World Challenge amid Le Mans Hypercar rumours

Valentino Rossi celebrated an emotional maiden outright race victory in a GT3 car when he and team-mate Maxime Martin triumphed in race two of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup at Misano.

Having secured his maiden podium at Brands Hatch, Rossi and Martin controlled the second hour-long outing in Italy in their Team WRT-run BMW M4 GT3 to secure an emotional win in front of a partisan crowd clad in yellow. Misano circuit is located just 20 minutes from Rossi’s home town of Tavullia.

When asked how the win compared to the multitude of two-wheeled successes the nine-times MotoGP champion has celebrated, Rossi said: “It cannot be better today. Winning my first race in this series, at Misano, that’s really special. The level is so high and the drivers so fast, so to win here is another story.”

While he had won the GT3 class of a Road to Le Mans race back in June, this marked his first outright race success on four wheels.

Rossi has been repeatedly linked with a move into BMW’s new Hypercar programme for Le Mans, but said he wanted to prove his speed in GTs first.