Valentino Rossi is working on the GT3 programme for the 24 Hours of Nürburgring

At his home race in the GT World Challenge Europe, BMW works driver Valentino Rossi took part in a round-table discussion with selected media outlets, including GT-Place. During the session, the 47-year-old spoke, amongst other things, about his plans to obtain a permit for the Nürburgring Nordschleife, which he hopes to complete before the end of this year.

“I’m already competing in the entire GT World Challenge Europe season and hope to complete my permit for the Nordschleife before the end of the year,” Rossi told selected media representatives.

It is not yet clear at which race Rossi will complete his permit. He will not be able to compete in the 6-hour race of the Nürburgring Endurance Series, as he will be racing in the GT World Challenge Europe at Magny-Cours at the same time. There is no scheduling clash with the European GT racing series during the NLS double-header and the season finale in October.

It is also unclear which team and which car he will use to complete the permit. However, as Rossi is a BMW works driver, it is likely that he will drive one of the new BMW M2 Racing cars, thereby also providing positive publicity for the new customer sports model.

Once he has successfully passed the permit, nothing will stand in the way of Rossi competing in a GT3 car at next year’s 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. There, the nine-time motorcycling world champion could come up against four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen, who, following his debut this year, is keen to compete once again in the endurance classic in the Eifel.

In the past, the Italian was very critical of the permit system on the Nordschleife, even though he always stated that he would very much like to compete in the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring. However, now that the regulations have been relaxed for this year, Rossi has opened up to the idea of a permit scheme on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Rossi would also have liked to have competed in this year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge race at Suzuka, but as things stand, this will not happen: “I would have really liked to have raced at Suzuka, as it’s one of my favourite circuits. Last year, the clash of dates with the WEC at Fuji made the trip too complicated in terms of my family life. This year I’d hoped to be able to compete there, but it’s likely that BMW won’t be entering the race there. In that case, I probably won’t be there either,” explains “Il Dottore”.