Valentino Rossi’s BMW M4 GT3 Loses Its Door Mid-Race, and He Keeps Driving

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Sunday, 11 Oct 2026 18:52 0 41 autotech

Valentino Rossi's BMW M4 GT3 Loses Its Door Mid-Race, and He Keeps Driving

Valentino Rossi has driven some pretty wild races throughout his career, but taking a BMW M4 GT3 around a circuit with a missing door probably wasn’t on his 2026 bingo card. The nine-time motorcycle world champion found himself in a bizarre situation during the second race of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on October 4. His No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO lost its driver-side door while he was battling through the field, leaving the Italian racing legend with an unexpectedly open cockpit. And yes, there’s video of the whole ridiculous situation.

Rossi’s Door-Decided Race

The incident happened during the final Sprint Cup round of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe season. Rossi and teammate Max Hesse started Race 2 from 15th on the grid, and the BMW was making progress before the door decided it had somewhere else to be. Rossi was running 12th and on course for a top-10 finish when it came loose.

Losing a door on a race car is a pretty serious problem, even if the resulting footage looks like something from a slapstick comedy. With safety concerns ruling out a doorless finish, Rossi was called into the pits for repairs, ruining what had looked like a promising recovery drive. The pair eventually finished 38th, well outside the points. It’s tempting to blame contact or a mechanical failure, but nobody has confirmed exactly why the door came loose.

BMW Still Had Something to Celebrate

BMW Wins the The Overall GT Sprint Cup

Via BMW Motorsports Media

Rossi’s unfortunate Sunday wasn’t the end of the story for Team WRT. The team secured the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup’s Teams’ Championship, its fourth title of 2026 and its 12th Sprint Cup crown in 14 seasons. Its No. 32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, driven by Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts, finished sixth in Race 2, while Jordan Pepper and Amaury Cordeel brought the No. 31 car home in eighth.

So, while Rossi’s race was derailed by an unwanted trip to the garage, Team WRT still had plenty of reasons to celebrate. The season’s final endurance race takes place at Portimão on October 17, giving the team another opportunity to finish the year on a high. For Rossi, though, the Barcelona race will probably be remembered for one particularly strange moment: finding himself behind the wheel of a BMW M4 GT3 EVO that suddenly had a very large opening where its door used to be.