Rossi team-mate Maxime Martin leaves BMW for brand spanking new challenges

Spa 24 Hours winner Maxime Martin, Valentino Rossi’s common team-mate for the previous two seasons, is leaving BMW for a second time.

The 38-year-old Belgian is ending his newest stint with BMW “at his personal request to pursue new challenges”, the German producer acknowledged on the discharge of the information on Monday.

Martin has give up BMW simply two years after rejoining the marque throughout which era he raced alongside seven-time MotoGP title winner Rossi within the GT World Problem Europe and the World Endurance Championship.

He was a manufacturing facility BMW driver from 2013 to ’17 earlier than switching to Aston Martin for 5 seasons earlier than returning to a producer with which his father Jean-Michel took two of his 4 Spa victories forward of the 2023 season, throughout which he co-drove with Rossi in each legs of the GTWCE.

Martin stated: “BMW M Motorsport has performed a big position in my profession from the very starting, and I look again fondly on the whole lot we achieved collectively – from my first successes in DTM and 24-hour races to the current victories with the BMW M4 GT3.

“I’m very grateful for the time we spent collectively and for my seven years as a BMW M works driver.

“However now it’s time for me to tackle new challenges.”

Martin has but to disclose his plans for 2025.

Andreas Roos, boss of BMW M Motorsport, paid tribute to Martin, calling him “one of many defining faces of our programmes” and a “great asset”.

Martin took his Spa victory in 2016 with the manufacturing facility Rowe Racing squad partnering Alexander Sims and Philipp Eng aboard a BMW M6 GT3.

He spent 4 seasons within the DTM with BMW in 2014-17, driving first for the RMG crew after which RBM, claiming a complete of three victories.

He cited a need to return to his sportscar racing roots for his determination to go away BMW for Aston Martin, with which he took a GTE Professional class victory on the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2020 co-driving a Vantage GTE with Alex Lynn and Harry Tincknell.

Martin partnered Rossi to a race victory within the GTWCE Dash Cup in each ’23 and ’24, each on the Italian’s residence monitor at Misano on the wheel of an M4 GT3 run by the WRT crew.

Their finest end result on their transfer into the WEC’s new LMGT3 class this season sharing with Ahmad Al Harthy was a second at Imola in April.

It has but to be introduced the place Rossi will race with BMW subsequent yr, as he seems to cut back on a programme in 2024 that stretched to 16 races.

He acknowledged after final month’s Bahrain WEC finale that he was prone to deal with the WEC on the request of BMW and drop his GTWCE programme.