Peugeot Settles on Two-Driver Lineups for Spa

Peugeot will go into next month’s third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa-Francorchamps with two-driver lineups in each of its cars.

An entry list for the event released on Wednesday confirms the French manufacturer will not replace Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne, who are both missing the Spa race in order to contest the clashing Berlin Formula E round with DS Penske.

Nico Mueller, who also races in Formula E for the ABT Cupra team, is skipping the Berlin weekend to race at Spa, joining Mikkel Jensen in the No. 93 Peugeot, while Paul di Resta and Loic Duval share the No. 94 car as a duo.

However, Peugeot has passed up a chance to give reserve driver Malthe Jakobsen a race debut, which Stellantis motorsport boss Jean-Marc Finot suggested was under consideration speaking to media during the season-opening Qatar 1812km.

By opting for a two-driver lineup, Peugeot joins Cadillac Racing, which will once again have just Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber piloting its solo V-Series.R at Spa, and Hertz Team JOTA, which has opted not to replace Norman Nato in the No. 12 Porsche 963 with the Frenchman away on Formula E duty.

Lamborghini on the other hand has chosen to add Andrea Caldarelli to the lineup for its No. 63 entry alongside Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat to replace the absent Edoardo Mortara, as confirmed by the marque last weekend at Imola.

Elsewhere in the Hypercar class, Alpine’s No. 35 entry has regular driver Ferdinand Habsburg listed, suggesting the Austrian driver is on course for a return at Spa after sitting out Imola due to injuries sustained in a testing crash late last month.

Alpine reserve Jules Gounon filled in for Habsburg at Imola alongside Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi.

Harry Tincknell is also named in the lineup for the Proton Competition Porsche, despite a clash with his Ford GTD Pro program in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which races at Laguna Seca on the same weekend.

In the event that Tincknell prioritizes Laguna Seca, it is likely that Proton would race at Spa just with Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer sharing the No. 99 car.

The clash between the Spa WEC round and Berlin Formula E event has another knock-on impact on the LMGT3 ranks, with Kelvin van der Linde missing to Spa to replace Mueller at ABT Cupra in the all-electric series.

As previously reported by Sportscar365, Toyota protégé Ritomo Miyata will take over van der Linde’s spot at the Akkodis ASP team, joining Arnold Robin and Timur Boguslavskiy in the No. 78 Lexus RC F GT3.

The only other change from Imola concerns the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which now has Rahel Frey at the wheel in place of Doriane Pin, who will sit out the rest of the season except the 24 Hours of Le Mans as announced by the team last week.