Max Hesse about sharing a car with Valentine Rossi

In this respect, the BMW succeeded in something spectacular in 2020, when the Bavarian manufacturer signed a threesome of young riders into his renewed junior team. All three members - Max Hesse, Dan Harper and Neil Verhagen, were carefully selected and identified as future factory riders. However, it was fair to expect that one of them might not make it to the finals.

It is remarkable that all three signed the contract as factory riders in 2023 and remain with BMW today. As far as junior programs go, it was a spectacular success.

While Verhagen worked mainly in the US, Harper and Hesse regularly participate in the GT World Challenge. This season they share BMW # 46 Team WRT BMW with a colleague from the Valentine Rossi factory. Hesse is more busy with two of them and is competing in a full ten-wheel championship alongside the Doctor.

"It's amazing! It was a great step for me to join Valem at the Sprint Cup. In the past, I've only driven endurance races and I really love this combination of sprint and endurance.

Val's just another person, a really nice guy. It's just like working with another factory rider. The whole group around him is like a family, and he is trying very hard to improve, which makes us all grow together, "says Hesse.

Given his relative inexperience in GT races, it could be assumed that Rossi is looking for advice from Hesse. But the younger man quickly notes that he can learn as much from the legend of MotoGP.

"Vale is a nine-time world champion and now has four or five years experience with cars. He's been through a lot and he knows how to handle a racing weekend.

He has a great sense of what a car does, what it actually feels underneath. That's something I really enjoy because I'm similar in that respect. I'm also interested in all the details and accuracy of feedback. Because we're both like that, we're moving in the same direction.

That is why we have achieved a decent speed this season. Even on lines where we shouldn't normally be super fast, we had speed. We just need to adjust some details. "

This final remark suggests the story of their season: despite the fact that the BMW with number 46 showed a lot of speed, it still did not get an excellent result in 2026. Qualifying speed was a particularly strong area in the sprint - they have the second best average in the series - and the car was competitive in endurance races. However, they're still missing the stage.

"I'd say it was tough, but we had a good race. Monza was a disadvantage to us because of the technical problem in the boxes. We were in a decent position, and even though it's not Val's home race, it's still in Italy and there was a big crowd; It would be nice to get a result there.

In my opinion, we also did a great job at Spa. We had a really good race without a big penalty. It was very clean and the pit stops were good. We were short of total speed to fight for victory, but Monday morning we all woke up satisfied with our work. The sixth place was the maximum, and I think that to be the best BMW, it shows that we did everything we could with our package. Hopefully next year will be the same, just with a little higher speed, and we'll be able to fight on top. "

After two Sprint Cup races - including Rossi's first field position in the Misan series - crew # 46 this weekend (29 / 30 August) return to the Endurance Cup. It is also a special event because the annual trip to Nürburgring represents a home race for Hesse and BMW.

"Nurburgring is a big word for the Germans. It's in the BMW DNA, and it's also a German rider to me. I lived around Nordschleife for two years and it's always good to go back. The track is marked with a BMW, we have our showroom and a lot of people drive from Munich. It immediately makes you feel like this is a very important race.

Being there fast takes a lot of effort. We have to make it through a really good Sunday, with qualifications and racing. There is a lot of traffic and the track is very special because you have a lot of slow turns, but also high speed at the end. To fine-tune your car, the settings must be pretty much perfect everywhere. It's a challenge, "adds the racer.