Pascal Wehrlein could join Porsche for Spa 6 Hours ahead of Le Mans debut

Porsche has left the door open on Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein making an early World Endurance Championship debut at Spa ahead of his maiden Le Mans 24 Hours.

Porsche Penske Motorsport boss Jonathan Diuguid has revealed that a final decision has yet to be made on whether Wehrlein will be given a race outing at the Belgian WEC round in May to aid his preparations for Le Mans in June.

Wehrlein was confirmed last month in the #4 additional entry for the WEC blue riband on 14-15 June, alongside IMSA SportsCar Championship regulars Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr.

“That’s something that’s in discussion and we will look at that and decide how we are going to go racing at Spa,” said Diuguid. “We are considering all options to make sure he is prepared.”

PPM has the possibility of slotting Wehrlein into one of its pair of regular WEC entries at the Spa 6 Hours on 10 May.

Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell, who respectively raced the #5 and #6 Porsche 963 LMDhs in the opening two WEC rounds at Qatar and Imola, will be on duty for PPM in the clashing Laguna Seca IMSA event.

They will then return to the WEC for Le Mans, but after that the team is planning to go into the Interlagos, Austin and Fuji six-hour races with a slimmed down line-up.

Porsche has named only Michael Christensen and Julien Andlauer in #5 and Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor in #6 for the full season.

Diuguid revealed that Wehrlein has been a key participant in PPM’s test programme over the past month.

He took part in a 32-hour endurance test at Aragon in Spain in March and then a two-day run at Spa at the start of this month, which followed his competition debut in the 963 at the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA season-opener in January aboard the JDC-Miller Motorsports customer car.

“He has got a decent amount of time under his belt and is performing well,” said Diuguid.

“The biggest thing that he is lacking is exposure to WEC race procedures and being comfortable with the complexity of the car, because there are a lot of default protocols.

“Beyond track time, he is spending a lot of time in the simulator.”

A decision on who will act as the reserve driver for the three-car PPM squad at Le Mans has also yet to be made, Diuguid stated.

Antonio Felix da Costa, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Antonio Felix da Costa, Wehrlein’s team-mate in the factory FE squad, or Porsche-contracted Nico Mueller, who has been loaned out to the Andretti team for the 2024/25 FE season, could be used.

Felix da Costa has been named by the AF Corse LMP2 squad for Le Mans, while Mueller is not on the entry list but did take part in Porsche’s Aragon test and also drove the JDC-Miller entry in the Sebring 12 Hours in March.

“We are looking at all options,” said Diuguid. “Antonio is racing an LMP2 car so will be on site.

“It depends if we want to have Nico or someone else there or if we are okay with Antonio being on site and pulling him out of the P2 car [if needed].”

In the past two years Campbell and Dane Cameron have acted as Porsche’s reserve for Le Mans: Campbell didn’t drive at the pre-event Test day in 2023 but Cameron did in ’24.