Van der Linde Joins WRT LMGT3 Squad; Rossi Stays

Photo: ADAC/DPPI

Newly minted BMW factory driver Kelvin van der Linde will join Team WRT’s LMGT3 lineup in the FIA World Endurance Championship, which will continue to feature nine-time motorcycle world champion Valentino Rossi.

Van der Linde, who was announced last month to be joining the Bavarian brand’s roster of GT3 factory drivers, is set to share the No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO with Rossi and the returning Bronze-rated driver Ahmad Al Harthy.

Rossi’s status with the WEC program was cast into some doubt when the Italian’s trademark No. 46 did not appear on WEC’s provisional 36-car entry list in November after the Italian previously expressed a preference to remain in the series over GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS.

Van der Linde, meanwhile, replaces Maxime Martin after the Belgian moved to Iron Lynx as part of his new role as a Mercedes-AMG factory driver.

He will make his debut as a BMW works driver in next week’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, joining Paul Miller Racing for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship opener.

WRT’s second car is set to be piloted by a largely revamped lineup after Darren Leung and Sean Gelael departed the team to move to United Autosports.

Instead, reigning 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Yasser Shahin will move across from Manthey EMA to team up with Timur Boguslavskiy and a returning Augusto Farfus, with the No. 31 car set to be run under the ‘The Bend Team WRT’ banner.

Shahin and Boguslavskiy will get their first taste of the BMW M4 GT3 EVO in this weekend’s Michelin 6H Abu Dhabi, where they will team up with Charles Weerts.

The FIA WEC season will get underway with the Qatar 1812km on Feb. 28.