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Ye Lands 2023 Hypercar Drive in JOTA Porsche 963

Yifei Ye first confirmed member of Hertz Team JOTA’s privateer Porsche LMDh entry…

Photo: Supplied

Yifei Ye has been announced as the first member of Hertz Team JOTA’s driver lineup for its FIA World Endurance Championship entry with a Porsche 963 next season.

The 22-year-old Chinese driver will make his debut in the WEC’s top category behind the wheel of a customer Porsche LMDh prototype run by the British squad.

Ye’s place in the lineup was confirmed at Saturday’s Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Night of Champions ceremony in Shanghai.

After a junior single-seater career that included a stint in the Renault Sport Academy, Ye entered sports cars last year and won the European Le Mans Series LMP2 title with Team WRT and the Asian Le Mans Series with G-Drive Racing.

Upon signing a contract with Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific at the end of last year, Ye stated an ambition to drive a Porsche LMDh car that will now be realized.

“Just over a year ago I was announced as the Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver and now I’ll be joining Hertz Team JOTA for 2023, racing in a Porsche 963,” he said.

“It’s a dream come true for me to be able to fight for overall victory at Le Mans in a Porsche.

“With such a successful team in endurance racing, I believe we stand a good chance to fight at the top. I’m very excited for the challenge and I can’t wait to get started.

“A big thanks to Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific and Porsche Motorsport for making it happen.”

In addition to being named as one of the team’s drivers for next season, Ye has been confirmed as a Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver for a second year.

During his first stint on Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific’s books, Ye drove a Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R in Asian LMS, alongside an ELMS program with Cool Racing.

“Yifei’s had a really positive first year with us and we’re confident he can have even more success in the Porsche 963 in WEC next season,” said Alexandre Gibot, managing director of Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific.

“Yifei’s move up to the LMDh class also fits with our aims of helping drivers move up the motorsport ladder, so we can’t wait for the season to begin.”

Experienced LMP2 team JOTA is preparing to run a single Porsche 963 in Hypercar and is also planning to continue in the second-tier prototype class with one of its Oreca 07 Gibsons.

Its Hypercar entry comes in addition to the two factory 963s that will be run by Porsche Penske Motorsport and an expected single-car customer effort from Proton Competition.

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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