Formula E champion Wehrlein to make Le Mans 24 Hours debut with Porsche

The reigning System E world champion Pascal Wehrlein has stuffed the vacant seat within the third manufacturing facility Porsche Penske Motorsport Hypercar entry for the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. 

The German, who’s in his fifth season of System E with Porsche, will contest the double-points spherical of the World Endurance Championship on 14-15 June alongside Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr aboard the #4 PPM Porsche 963 LMDh. 

Wehrlein, who drove for Sauber and Manor in System 1, will make his Le Mans debut after racing a 963 for the primary time on the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA SportsCar Championship season-opener in January with the JDC-Miller MotorSports buyer squad. 

PPM has eight drivers on its LMDh roster throughout WEC and IMSA, which means it has had to herald an extra identify for its expanded Le Mans assault.

Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach stated: “The Porsche driver roster is totally top-tier and extremely deep. It solely is smart to leverage our sturdy personnel from the FE manufacturing facility group for the third PPM entry at Le Mans. 

“Pascal Wehrlein has totally satisfied us along with his efficiency in testing and his participation within the Daytona 24 Hours. Because the reigning FE world champion, he has earned his Le Mans debut on the wheel of a Porsche 963.”

Wehrlein, 30, described the prospect to compete at Le Mans “as a dream come true”.

“Porsche has such an iconic motorsport heritage; I’m extraordinarily grateful for this chance,” he added.

“I’m wanting ahead to this main problem as a result of, in contrast to in FE, I should share every little thing within the Porsche 963 that I might usually tailor particularly to myself: seating place, set-up, technique and extra.

“I need to add main titles in different sequence to my FE world championship victory, however my major purpose is to do a robust job for the group and be taught as a lot as potential.” 

The naming of Wehrlein within the #4 Penske 963 completes the entry record within the 21-strong Hypercar class for Le Mans, spherical 4 of WEC 2025.

Porsche has additionally introduced that his System E team-mate, Antonio Felix da Costa, will return to Le Mans after a yr’s absence. 

It acknowledged that the Portuguese shall be racing in LMP2 aboard an ORECA-Gibson 07 with out confirming the group. 

Da Costa was a fixture on the Le Mans grid from 2018 to 2023, successful the LMP2 class with Jota in 2022. Porsche stopped him competing within the race final yr to ensure that him to concentrate on System E.