Three Frenchmen take part in WEC rookie test

France will be well represented. On November 3, the day after the final of the World Endurance Championship, several teams will stay in Bahrain for the rookie test. On this occasion, three French drivers will be involved with Alpine and Peugeot.

Victor Martins will take the wheel of the Alpine A424, which clinched its first podium a few weeks ago at Fuji. He will bring a fresh look to the team for its first laps in Hypercar, announced the stable.

« It’s an opportunity for me to continue building my experience with new engineers and a new car, as well as a chance to showcase my potential. Although I am very focused on my career in single-seaters, it’s a challenge that I gladly accept, and I hope that we will maximize the rookie test day, both for my learning experience and to provide them with good data for their development,” the Alpine academy member rejoices.

And at Peugeot?

Some garages next to the team at the A arrow, two other French drivers will be there. Théo Pourchaire and Clément Novalak will drive the Peugeot 9X8. « We have selected two different profiles. Théo is more focused on single-seaters with an already impressive record and is recognized as one of the hopes in single-seaters. Clément has more endurance experience with strong results in ELMS, including a 2nd place in LMP at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2024. His statistics in this discipline have seduced us. I think it’s an interesting combination. They will be supervised by Paul di Resta and Malthe Jakobsen who also went through the same process before being confirmed next season. And it’s always very interesting for us to have a technical feedback with a fresh look », analyzes Olivier Jansonnie, technical director of Peugeot Sport.

According to Clément Novalak, this selection is an important step in his transition from single-seaters to endurance racing. He will take his first steps in Hypercar, having only experienced the LMP2 with Inter Europol.

Direction Bahrain

On his side, Théo Pourchaire will discover a different discipline than single-seater racing. The FIA F2 2023 champion had done a few stints this season in IndyCar before being let go. “It’s a bit of a different sport for me, it’s completely different from what I was used to doing in Formula 2, as an F1 reserve driver or even in IndyCar. I am eager to discover the World Endurance Championship, I think it’s a dream for all drivers to be able to compete in this championship one day, especially the 24 Hours of Le Mans which is the biggest race in the world. To have this first experience in endurance is great and I look forward to returning to Bahrain which is a circuit that I particularly like, a very good circuit with a very powerful car, it’s a great opportunity,” he emphasizes.