Rossi confirms 2025 Bathurst start

Two-wheel world champion turned endurance racing ace Valentino Rossi says he’ll be on the grid for the 2025 Bathurst 12 Hour.

Though official entries are yet to open for the race, Rossi told European GT and endurance racing website Endurance-Info.com that he would be a starter while competing in his BMW at the weekend.

“I’ll be at the start of the 2025 Bathurst 12 Hours,” Rossi told Endurance-Info.com journalist Laurent Mercier.

“I hope it will be with these two guys.”

Rossi was competing in the most recent round of Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe at the Nürburgring, sharing his BMW M4 GT3 with regular co-pilots Maxime Martin and Raffaele Marciello.

The trio finished a stout fifth outright in Australia’s International Enduro this year, completing the race on the lead lap and crossing the line just five seconds behind the winning Porsche.

The car was involved in a furious four-car fight for second through fifth position in the race’s closing stages, with a bold move around the outside of the final corner within sight of the flag not quite paying off for Martin in the end.

Still, fifth was the best result in the race for both he and Rossi and was one position higher than Valentino’s Mountain debut a year earlier where he, Martin and Augusto Farfus finished sixth.

The Italian’s impact on the 12 Hour has been significant, with a host of VR46 fans flocking to the Mountain from around Australia to watch the most successful two-wheel Grand Prix rider in history compete on Australia’s most iconic circuit.

Rossi has continued to expand his circuit racing activities with BMW this year, taking on both the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint and Endurance Championships, the Intercontinental GT World Challenge and the GT3 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship – which has included three top five finishes in the first five races this year.

All starts have come with BMW M Team WRT, who won the Bathurst 12 Hour with Audi in 2018 before returning with a pair of BMWs in 2023.

Following a solid debut with the car that year, the team returned in 2024 and scored the Allan Simonsen Pole Award thanks to a brilliant shootout lap from South African star, Sheldon van der Linde.

That car led the first 31 laps of the race and remained a consistent top 3 contender until an unfortunate crash at the Cutting ended their day on lap 121, four hours and 47 minutes into the race.

Tickets are now on sale for the 2025 Bathurst 12 Hour, to be held between January 31 and February 2 next year.

Tickets purchased now can be secured at 2024 prices when purchased online via Ticketek or the Bathurst 12 Hour website.

Campground sites are also on sale and are selling fast, with availability almost exhausted less than one week after going on sale.