Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein completes Porsche’s LMDh line-up at Le Mans

Pascal Wehrlein will make his debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours with the factory Porsche team this year.

Wehrlein will share Porsche Penske Motorsport’s additional #4 963 LMDh with Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr in the centrepiece round of the World Endurance Championship on 14-15 June.

Porsche has been preparing Wehrlein for a possible drive at Le Mans since November, when he was handed a last-minute opportunity to join its customer team JDC-Miller in the IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona.

This was followed by a maiden appearance in the Daytona 24 Hours with the same team, where he finished an excellent sixth.

Wehrlein also tested the Porsche 963 during its development stages in 2022 and, although he is new to endurance racing, he raced somewhat similar prototype machinery in the Class One era of the DTM.

The German has been a part of Porsche’s factory roster in Formula E since 2020 and scored three wins last season en route to his maiden world title title.

The Le Mans outing is seen as a reward for his Formula E success in the 2023/24 season.

“Competing for Porsche Penske Motorsport at Le Mans is a dream come true for me,” said the 30-year-old

“I’m looking forward to this major challenge because, unlike in Formula E, I have to share everything in the Porsche 963 that I would normally tailor specifically to myself – seating position, set-up, strategy and more.

“Of course, I want to add other titles to my Formula E World Championship victory, but my primary goal is to do a strong job for the team and learn as much as possible. Porsche has such an iconic motorsport heritage, and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.”

As was the case last year, Porsche Penske Motorsport is fielding three 963 LMDh prototypes in the Hypercar division this year, with an additional car from IMSA joining the two World Endurance Championship entries.

It follows Porsche winning an invite to the French endurance classic for winning the GTP title at its second attempt in IMSA last year.

However, Porsche has scaled down its factory LMDh pool from 10 drivers to eight, creating a vacancy in the team for Le Mans, which has now been filled by Wehrlein.

The #5 Porsche 963 will continue be driven by Michael Christensen, Julien Andlauer and Mathieu Jaminet, while the sister #6 car will be crewed by Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Matt Campbell.

“The Porsche driver roster is absolutely top-tier and incredibly deep,” said Porsche Motorsport Vice-President Thomas Laudenbach. “It makes perfect sense to leverage our strong personnel from the Formula E factory team for the third Porsche Penske Motorsport entry at Le Mans.

“Pascal has fully convinced us with his performance in testing and his participation in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

“As the reigning Formula E world champion, he has earned his Le Mans debut at the wheel of a Porsche 963.”

Porsche also announced that Antonio Felix da Costa, who partners Wehrlein in its Formula E team, will race in the LMP2 division at Le Mans after missing the 2024 edition of the race altogether.