Indianapolis, Indiana – Valentino Rossi’s name has long been woven into the fabric of motorcycle racing, but on a storm-soaked October night at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Italian legend added another remarkable chapter to his career—this time behind the wheel of a GT race car. Rossi played a key role in Team WRT’s victory at the Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, giving the seven-time MotoGP world champion his first win in Intercontinental GT Challenge competition and another milestone at one of the world’s most famous racetracks.
The win came on Oct. 19 under some of the most difficult conditions the endurance event has seen in recent years. Rossi shared the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 with Kelvin van der Linde of South Africa and Charles Weerts of Belgium. Together, the trio navigated a race shaped as much by patience and judgment as outright speed, securing Team WRT’s third consecutive Indianapolis 8 Hour victory.
For Rossi, the achievement carried special weight. Indianapolis is already a meaningful place in his racing story. In 2008, he won the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP MotoGP race, also in heavy rain. Now, more than a decade later, he joins a select group of competitors to have won at IMS on both two wheels and four.
“I’m very happy because it was a great race, and at the end we were very lucky,” Rossi said. “Winning here for me is very special because I won here in 2008 with MotoGP, so it’s something fantastic.”
The race itself unfolded in two very different acts. The opening four hours on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course delivered clean, fast competition with no major incidents. Teams settled into rhythm, executing strategy and managing traffic as the field spread out under green-flag conditions. Rossi and his co-drivers kept the BMW firmly in contention, positioning themselves well as the race approached its midpoint.
Then the weather arrived—and everything changed.
Four hours and three minutes after the green flag, lightning in the area forced officials to halt the race with a red flag. Central Indiana was hit by a series of intense thunderstorms, bringing heavy rain and repeated lightning strikes that made racing unsafe. What followed was a long delay as teams, officials, and fans waited to see if conditions would improve.
When the cars finally returned to the track, there were just 1 hour and 32 minutes left on the clock. The field rolled out behind the Safety Car, and for a brief window, it appeared the race might resume in earnest. Conditions improved enough to allow green-flag racing with 40 minutes remaining, setting the stage for a dramatic sprint to the finish.
That moment, however, was short-lived. After only two laps at full speed, trouble struck for the No. 80 Mercedes-AMG Lone Star Racing entry driven by Jules Gounon, which stopped at pit-in with a gearbox issue. The incident triggered another caution, and before the race could restart, yet another storm cell moved over the speedway.
Heavy rain returned, along with deep standing water around the circuit. Track crews worked tirelessly, but the conditions never improved enough to safely resume green-flag racing. The remaining laps were completed under yellow, and the checkered flag waved at the scheduled finish time of 8:20 p.m. ET with the field still under caution.
When it was over, Rossi, van der Linde, and Weerts stood atop the results, having mastered a race that demanded calm decision-making and adaptability. The No. 888 Mercedes-AMG Team GMR entry of Maro Engel, Tom Kalender, and Luca Stolz finished second, while Team WRT locked out another podium spot with the No. 777 BMW M4 driven by Raffaele Marciello, Augusto Farfus, and Al Faisal Al Zubair.
The event also featured notable performances from drivers better known for their success in American open-wheel racing. NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver Conor Daly helped guide the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 to a strong fourth-place finish, showcasing his versatility on the endurance racing stage. Will Power, a two-time INDYCAR SERIES champion and winner of the 2018 Indianapolis 500, finished sixth in the No. 75 Express Mercedes-AMG. The result marked Power’s first sports car start since 2003, making his return to the discipline a successful one.
Despite the weather dominating the second half of the race, the Indianapolis 8 Hour still delivered a memorable spectacle. The early pace, combined with the dramatic interruptions and tense final hours, tested teams in ways endurance racing often does best. Strategy, teamwork, and restraint proved just as important as speed.
For Rossi, the victory was another reminder that his competitive instincts translate far beyond motorcycles. Since stepping away from full-time MotoGP competition, he has steadily built credibility in GT racing, and this win at IMS stands as one of the most significant four-wheel achievements of his post-MotoGP career.
At a venue that has already defined multiple chapters of his legacy, Rossi once again found a way to win—this time with a steering wheel instead of handlebars, and under skies as unpredictable as the racing career that continues to evolve.
