Porsche factory driver Pascal Wehrlein will make his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut this year, the reigning Formula E World Champion from completes the Porsche Penske Motorsport squad’s three car Hypercar driver lineup.
Wehrlein will share the cockpit of the #4 Porsche 963 with Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, a third entry in addition to the pair of full season factory cars from the FIA WEC, earned via the Porsche Penske squad’s victory in last season’s IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar championship.
The German racer has already had plenty of opportunity to sample the Porsche 963 with testing and the Rolex 24 at Daytona aboard the privately entered JDC-Miller MotorSports car in IMSA’s GTP class (seen below with JDC Miller Sporting Director Richard Westbrook).
Wehrlein then joins the ‘Florida Double’ winning pairing of Nasr and Tandy for his factory sportscar debut and his debut at Le Mans.
“The Porsche driver roster is absolutely top-tier and incredibly deep. It only makes sense to leverage our strong personnel from the Formula E factory team for the third Porsche Penske Motorsport entry at Le Mans,” explains Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. “Pascal Wehrlein has fully convinced us with his performance in testing and his participation in the 24 Hours of Daytona. As the reigning Formula E World Champion, he has earned his Le Mans debut at the wheel of a Porsche 963.
“Competing for Porsche Penske Motorsport at Le Mans is a dream come true for me.
“I`m looking forward to this major challenge because, unlike in Formula E, I have to share everything in the Porsche 963 that I would normally tailor specifically to myself: seating position, setup, strategy, and more,” said Pascal Wehrlein.
“Of course, I want to add major titles in other series to my Formula E World Championship victory, but my primary goal is to do a strong job for the team and learn as much as possible. Porsche has such an iconic motorsport heritage; I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.”
António Félix da Costa, Wehrlein’s teammate in the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, will compete in the LMP2 class at Le Mans, a class where he took the win in 2022 with Jota.
“António Félix da Costa, making his seventh start in France, will undoubtedly be among the fastest LMP2 drivers once again,” said Laudenbach.
“I am very happy to be back at Le Mans after one year absence,” said da Costa. “In my last LMP2 appearance, I won the class. That’s my goal again this year. I can’ wait to attack alongside my teammates in June.”
