Stoffel Vandoorne will have his race debut for Peugeot TotalEnergies, when the FIA World Endurance Championship races at Fuji International Speedway next week.
The Belgian racer will replace Nico Müller in car #94, who has broken his collarbone, following an accident during his summer holiday.
This is far from the first time that Vandoorne has participated in the FIA WEC. The former F1 driver has previously raced for SMP Racing in their LMP1 car, and done a season for JOTA in the LMP2 category.
Vandoorne was announced as a test driver for the team about a year ago, before getting his debut in the car at the Rookie test in Bahrain in November 2022.
Photo: JJ Media
This is the second time for Peugeot TotalEnergies to compete at Fuji in Japan. Their visit to the circuit last year, was only their second race with the car, which was full of technical issues. The team made their debut at Monza 2022, and on the very same track in 2023, they claimed their very first podium. That will give them hope for another good result for the coming weekend, which has the iconic, long start and finish straight, which fits the 9X8 very well.
Vandoorne will be joined in car #94 by Loic Duval and Gustavo Menezes, while Paul Di Resta, Mikkel Jensen, and Jean-Eric Vergne will be racing car #93.
The FIA WEC race in Japan will be run on 10 September 2023.
