Pascal Wehrlein’s racing career will be branching out into unfamiliar territory this weekend when the 2024 FIA Formula E World Champion teams up with the factory Porsche Penske Motorsport squad for the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
The Monaco Increase Management contracted driver has been brought into the successful German manufacturer’s nine-strong endurance racing squad for a high-level track programme this year, which includes some of the world’s most legendary endurance races, including the Daytona 24 Hours, the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, for which this race is a sort of dress rehearsal.
The 30-year-old German, currently lying third in the Formula E championship following last weekend’s round in Monaco, will flank the reigning drivers’ world champions, Kévin Estre of France and Laurens Vanthoor of Belgium as one of a trio of drivers in the #6 Porsche 963 prototype. Wehrlein will thus get the chance to familiarize himself with the 963 and the WEC before his upcoming debut at Le Mans at the wheel of the hypercar.
This weekend’s event won’t be his first experience in the 963 prototype as he competed in the Daytona 24 Hours with the satellite JDC-Miller Motorsports entry in January, finishing an excellent sixth on his debut, and it won’t be his first time at Spa in this car either as he took part in valuable testing a few weeks ago at the challenging Ardennes circuit.
The fact that Pascal is competing in three prestigious endurance events with the 2024 winning team of drivers is a demonstration of the esteem that Porsche Penske Motorsport holds for the Formula E World Champion, who currently lies third overall in the Formula E standings, one point away from P2, and shows that it wishes to prepare him for its future endurance racing commitment.
The six-hour race starts at 14.00 on Saturday afternoon, with Hypercar Qualifying and Hyperpole on Friday afternoon and Free Practice on Thursday.
Photos: Courtesy of Porsche
