ROSSI’S BMW LOSES A DOOR DURING BARCELONA GT RACE
5 Oct 2026·
Valentino Rossi’s Barcelona GT World Challenge weekend took an unusual turn when the left-hand door came off his BMW during the second race, forcing him to pit for repairs.
Rossi and team-mate Max Hesse had finished 16th in Race 1 in their No.46 WRT BMW. They started Race 2 from 15th after Saturday’s poor weather meant the grid was set using second practice times rather than qualifying. Rossi had climbed to 12th when the door detached in the closing stages. The cause was not reported, but driving without it raised safety concerns, so he was called into the pits. The car had to be taken back to the WRT garage for the door to be refitted, costing the pair valuable time.
Rossi took the mishap in stride in a social media post, saying: “Everything happened this weekend, eh? But only bad things! Anyway…”
The Barcelona event was the final Sprint Cup round and the penultimate meeting of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe season. Rossi is due back on track for the Endurance Cup finale at Portimao on 16–18 October, where he will share the event with four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen.
Verstappen is set to make his GT World Challenge debut in the No.3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG, standing in for Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon, who will be racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship at Barcelona. It will be his return to GT competition after a technical problem ended his hopes of victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours earlier in the year.
Asked about racing at the same event as Rossi, Verstappen said: “I hope I get to see him. He’s a very cool guy, so I hope to catch up with him.” He added that, on track, he would rather not encounter anyone: “I mean it nice, but I do not hope to see him in the race, so that’s normally a good sign. I actually hope to see no one, to be just up front and do a good job. But you never know.”
Separately, the FIA has confirmed Rossi’s driver grading will rise from Silver to Gold for the 2027 season, a change reported as unlikely to affect his current plans.