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.
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.
“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.” Valentino Rossi
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.
