Valentino Rossi’s new team-mates win iconic endurance race for BMW

MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi’s new GT World Challenge Europe team-mates got their 2026 season off to a winning start in the GTD Pro class at the iconic 24 Hours of Daytona.

Nine-time grand prix motorcycle world champion Valentino Rossi will return to the GTWCE full-time in 2026, following his exit from the FIA World Endurance Championship after just two seasons.

Rossi will remain a factory BMW driver, and will continue with Belgian outfit WRT, though he will race alongside two new team-mates in the GTWCE.

The Italian will be joined by 25-year-old British GT champion Dan Harper for all of the Sprint and Endurance rounds of the 2026 GTWCE, while Max Hesse comes into the line-up for the Endurance events.

Rossi’s new team-mates win at Daytona

Rossi will be looking to add to his three wins in GTWCE in 2026 with his new team-mates, who kicked off their years with victory for BMW at the iconic 24 Hours of Daytona.

Driving the Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, the four-man line-up of Harper, Hesse, Connor de Phillippi and Neil Verhagen, triumphed in a tense GTD Pro battle.

The No.1 car beat the No.75 Express Mercedes of Kenny Habul, Maro Engel, Will Power and Chaz Mostert.

Harper, who celebrated his first Daytona 24 success, revealed during the live broadcast his childhood love for Valentino Rossi.

“It’s very special,” he told IMSA Radio.

“As embarrassing as it may be, I was actually… he was my childhood hero. So, my first karting number was 46.

“So, I’m definitely going to get a bit of a stick about that. I’ll not tell him that… unless he’s listening. It’s a really proud moment for me.

“I do have a photo in my grandparents' house with the 46.”

Asked if he and Rossi had spoken much ahead of the GTWCE season, he replied:

“Not so far yet. We sort of sent a message to each other whenever we got an idea that we were going to be racing together.

“We messaged each other, just saying, ‘looking forward to the year, let’s go for it’. We’ve got some pre-season testing planned, which I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Overall victory at the 2026 24 Hours of Daytona went to Porsche Penske Motorsport, as the No.7 car driven by ex-F1 driver Felipe Nasr, Laurin Heinrich and Julien Andlauer fended off a late surge from the No.31 Whelen Cadillac of Connor Zilisch, Fred Vesti, Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken.

It marked Porsche’s third consecutive Daytona 24 triumph.

The LMP2 category was won by the No.04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR entry of Toby Sowery, Alex Quinn, Malthe Jakobsen and George Kurtz.

In GTD, the No.57 Winward Racing Mercedes topped the field with Russell Ward, Indy Dontje, Philip Elis and Lucas Auer.