BMW M Team WRT will be loaded for bear in the GT World Challenge Europe series this year. A few weeks ago, the team announced that Valentino Rossi and Max Hesse would contest the entire season of both the Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup races in the #46 M4 GT3 EVO, with Dan Harper joining them for the endurance rounds.
Last week, the team announced that Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts will contest the full season in the #32 M4 GT3 EVO, with new works driver Jordan Pepper joining them for the Endurance Cup rounds. Weerts and van der Linde are the defending overall and Sprint Cup champions. The duo, along with Ugo de Wilde, finished third in the Endurance Cup points in 2025, just 10 points behind the winners.
Jordan Pepper, who won his first race as a BMW M Motorsport driver in the Dubai 24 Hour race last month, replaces Ugo de Wilde in the Endurance Cup lineup for the #32. BMW has yet to formally announce their lineup of factory drivers for 2026, but de Wilde is still listed as a factory driver on the website, as well as on his Instagram page. Team WRT is expected to announce more entries in GT World Challenge Europe before the season starts in April.
The van der Linde, Weerts and Pepper trio will race together next weekend when they contest the Bathurst 12 Hour race in Australia in the #32 M4 GT3 EVO. BMW are defending champs in that race, which is the first round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge championship and one of the most exciting races of the year. You can watch it on the Bathurst 12 Hour YouTube channel.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy WRT, SRO]
