Hawksworth, Barnicoat Join Toyota for Bahrain Rookie Test

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD Pro champions Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat will drive a Toyota GR010 Hybrid during next week’s FIA World Endurance Championship Rookie Test in Bahrain.

Confirmed as part of an 18-car entry list for the test, the British duo will get behind the wheel of the No. 7 machine, alongside Josh Pierson and Jose Maria Lopez.

Pierson was chosen by WEC as one of its nominated drivers to take part of the test, along with Corvette Racing’s Nico Varrone and European Le Mans Series LMP3 driver Antoine Doquin.

Varrone, meanwhile will also drive the No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R at the test alongside newly crowned ELMS LMP2 champion Kyffin Simpson.

Porsche Penske Motorsport will bring in new DTM champion Thomas Preining to drive its No. 7 Porsche 963 alongside a yet-to-be-confirmed second driver.

Both of Porsche’s customer Hypercar squads will also be in action at the test, with Pietro Fittipaldi driving the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA machine while LMP2 driver Rene Binder joins Julien Andlauer at Proton Competition.

Ferrari, meanwhile, will have GTE-Am race winner Lilou Wadoux and current Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup driver Robert Schwartzman at the wheel of the No. 51 Ferrari 499P.

The test outing for Wadoux will mark the second time she has piloted an LMH car, as she was selected to drive the championship-winning Toyota at last year’s Rookie Test.

Peugeot, meanwhile, will call on Stoffel Vandoorne, Mikkel Jensen and Junior Driver Malthe Jakobsen to pilot its two cars.

Five teams (Prema, United Autosports, JOTA, Inter Europol Competition and Team WRT) are entered in LMP2, although most of them are yet to confirm any drivers.

A WEC spokesperson told Sportscar365 that Varrone, who was previously named as the nominated driver for the LMP2 class at the test, will no longer pilot an Oreca 07 Gibson there and will instead exclusively drive the Cadillac LMDh car.

Prema, meanwhile, will welcome Bronze-rated driver PJ Hyett as well as Paul-Loup Chatin and Harry Tincknell, while Bronze-rated driver Daniel Schneider will drive with United.

Current FIA Formula 2 driver Clement Novalak will get behind the wheel of the No. 34 Inter Europol machine.

Four cars have been entered by GTE-Am teams, with Corvette Racing hosting Doquin as well as Nicky Catsburg, while AF Corse will run three of its Ferraris for Christoph Ulrich, International GT Open race winner Nicola Marinangeli and GT3 ace Lorenzo Patrese.