Why Rossi's serious approach to car racing in 2024 may create a dilemma

Is Valentino Rossi getting serious about this four-wheel-racing lark? On the face of it, the answer has to be yes. The two-wheel legend will not just be racing in the World Endurance Championship with the WRT BMW squad in the new LMGT3 class this year. He’s doubling up with the Belgian team in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, and has thrown in a smattering of other races, too. Right now he’s scheduled to do 16 in what will be only his third full season of car racing.

It should be expected that a competitor who won seven world titles in MotoGP and a couple more in its smaller capacity categories wants to perform at the highest level in his second career, to be able to match the quickest drivers around him. He admits that doing more racing is part of a plan to achieve that, though he’s also stressed that it was important for him to keep a foot in both camps. There’s his love of the Spa 24 Hours, the centrepiece round of the GTWCE in which he has raced since 2022, to consider.