MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi added a significant four-wheel milestone to his storied career by helping Team WRT capture its third consecutive Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS victory Oct. 19 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Rossi, the Italian icon and seven-time MotoGP World Champion, shared the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 with Kelvin van der Linde of South Africa and Charles Weerts of Belgium. The trio prevailed in challenging conditions, taking the checkered flag under caution after a string of intense October thunderstorms battered Central Indiana. Only two green flag laps were completed on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course during the final four hours as repeated lightning strikes and heavy rain forced race officials to keep the field behind the Safety Car.
The victory marked Rossi’s first in Intercontinental GT Challenge competition and secured his place in IMS history as a winner on both two and four wheels. He previously won the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP MotoGP race in 2008, another event staged in torrential rain.
“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 No. 888 Mercedes-AMG Team GMR entry of Maro Engel, Tom Kalender and Luca Stolz finished second, while Team WRT also claimed the final podium position with the No. 777 BMW M4 shared by Raffaele Marciello, Augusto Farfus and Al Faisal Al Zubair.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver Conor Daly helped power the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 to a strong fourth-place finish, and two-time INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power placed sixth in the No. 75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG in his first sports car start since 2003.
The race’s turning point came four hours and three minutes after the green flag, when a lightning hold forced a red flag and halted the action. The field returned to the track under caution 1 hour, 32 minutes from the finish and for a brief stretch conditions improved enough to resume racing with 40 minutes remaining. But after just two laps at full speed, the No. 80 Mercedes-AMG Lone Star Racing entry of Jules Gounon stopped at pit-in with a gearbox issue, triggering another caution.
Moments later, another powerful storm cell unleashed heavy rain and deep standing water around the circuit. Despite persistent work from track sweepers, conditions never improved enough for a return to green. The race concluded under yellow at its scheduled finish time of 8:20 p.m. ET.
While weather dominated the second half, the opening four hours delivered fast, clean, caution-free competition, setting the stage for a dramatic and memorable day at IMS.
