Vandoorne Among Drivers to Test Peugeot 9X8 in Bahrain

Four drivers from outside Peugeot’s Hypercar lineup will drive the French manufacturer’s LMH car at the FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test in Bahrain.

Reigning ABB FIA Formula E world champion Stoffel Vandoorne, fellow electric series competitor Maximilian Guenther, European Le Mans Series LMP3 champion Malthe Jakobsen and two-time FIA World Touring Car Cup champion Yann Ehrlacher will each turn laps in the Peugeot 9X8 next Sunday.

The Peugeot quartet appears on the 22-car entry list for the WEC’s annual post-season test which takes place one day after the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

Vandoorne’s LMH outing comes after the Belgian won the 2021-22 Formula E title with Mercedes and finished second in last season’s WEC LMP2 standings with JOTA.

Former Nissan e.dams driver Guenther recently signed for the new Maserati MSG Racing Formula E team, which falls under the same Stellantis group as Peugeot and is led by James Rossiter who drove the 9X8 in the WEC rounds at Monza and Fuji.

Jakobsen was the standout in Cool Racing’s ELMS title-winning season in which the Dane claimed six out of six pole positions in LMP3. Ehrlacher, meanwhile, last raced a prototype in the same series and category three years ago.

Nico Mueller will also test for Peugeot, one day after his Hypercar race debut with the French manufacturer, along with WEC lineup staple Mikkel Jensen.

Toyota Gazoo Racing plans to field both of its Toyota GR010 Hybrids with team regulars Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Sebastien Buemi set to gather mileage.

Lilou Wadoux, who is one of four WEC-selected rookie test drivers, could also drive the Toyota if the Japanese marque wins the world championship at the Bahrain title decider, while the Alpine A480 Gibson is also an option for the Frenchwoman.

The other official rookie testers are Lorenzo Colombo — who will drive a car from the title-winning manufacturer in GTE-Pro — as well as Doriane Pin who is testing an LMP2, and Finn Gehrsitz who will get behind the wheel of an Aston Martin Vantage GTE.

Keating in Post-Season Corvette Test

GTE-Am points leader Ben Keating is on the rookie test entry and is set to sample the factory-run Chevrolet Corvette C8.R that he will campaign next season.

The Bronze-rated Texan is named alongside Corvette GTE-Pro ace Nick Tandy and Silver-rated drivers Nico Varrone and Axcil Jefferies who mainly compete in GT3.

LMP2 teams Algarve Pro Racing and United Autosports are also trying out multiple new drivers in Bahrain.

Algarve Pro will run Honda Performance Development protege Kyffin Simpson and GTE-Am racer Fred Poordad, as well as ex-FIA Formula 2 driver Mahaveer Raghunathan and Romanian racer Filip Ugran, who joined the team at the last two ELMS rounds.

Reigning Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS champion Yasser Shahin, who usually drives Audi GT3 machinery, is set to pilot one of United Autosports’ Orecas alongside fellow Australian Garnet Patterson.

United is also giving testing time to its previously announced 2023 ELMS lineup of Nelson Piquet Jr, Andy Meyrick and Daniel Schneider.

After helping Prema to secure the ELMS title by winning the 4 Hours of Portimao last month, Juan Manuel Correa will test the Italian squad’s Oreca 07 Gibson in Bahrain.

The American will share seat time with Dutchman Tijmen van der Helm.

Furthermore, 2020 GTWC Europe combined champion Timur Boguslavskiy has an LMP2 test booked with AF Corse, in a departure from the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that he usually races.

Vector Sport is running 18-year-old British single-seater prospect Frederick Lubin.

Aston Martin GTE-Am squad NorthWest AMR will test Silver-rated drivers Johnathan Hoggard, Patrick Gallagher, Indy Dontje and Lorcan Hanafin.

Hoggard made his GT racing debut in the 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona after winning the Sunoco Whelen Challenge, but the Brit hasn’t raced full-time this year.

Gallagher, meanwhile, recently made a handful of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD appearances with McLaren outfit Crucial Motorsports and is also a race winner in Michelin Pilot Challenge driving the Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

Dontje most recently raced an Aston Martin in ADAC GT4 Germany, while Hanafin comes from Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup.

Maxime Oosten and Ryan Hardwick are due to test for Team Project 1 and TF Sport, respectively.