Valentino Rossi hailed for “mega” Le Mans qualifying lap

Valentino Rossi’s lap to qualify the No.46 WRT BMW third on the grid in the LMGT3 class for the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans has been hailed as “mega”.

The MotoGP legend is taking part in his second 24 Hours of Le Mans this year in the BMW M4 run by the WRT squad in the LMGT3 class.

The No.46 car, which he shares with Ahmad Al Harthy and Kelvin van der Linde, has looked solid this season in the World Endurance Championship and has been competitive throughout Le Mans practice up to Thursday.

Al Harthy got the car into Hyperpole by topping Wednesday qualifying, with van der Linde topping Hyperpole 1 on Thursday.

Valentino Rossi was tasked with driving the car in Hyperpole 2, but the FIA Silver grade Italian had to go up against a number of top graded runners in rival cars.

But Rossi produced a 3m54.966s to qualify the No.46 BMW third behind the No.21 Vista AF Corse car and the pole-winning No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin.

“I mean, I hope I motivated them all,” Al Harthy said when asked about his Wednesday qualifying after Hyperpole.

“They were amazing. Kelvin did an amazing job, much harder session obviously.

“And for Vale to put that time in, again I say this WRT BMW team is about team work, getting everything together.

“But this guy [Rossi], honestly, what a mega lap. What a mega lap, so happy.”

Rossi said of the result: “I’m very happy. We did a very good strategy because Kelvin started before [in H1] and I did the Hyperpole with the pros.

“So, to stay there I’m very happy. I did a very good lap. It’s a great way to start. We will start in P3, which is a great place, and we will see.”

The No.46 car was running in the podium battle at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans before a terminal crash when Al Harthy was behind the wheel took the BMW crew out of the race.

This year in the WEC the car made it to the podium in second at Imola, though a tangle while Rossi was driving ultimately denied it what looked set to be a nailed-on win.