Are there any famous drivers in WEC in 2024?
Obviously. The growth of sportscars since convergence between the ACO and IMSA has seen a lot of young and not-so-young drivers whose F1 aspirations seemed to be dwindling make the switch to a potential paying career in prototype or GT racing.
Among them are a host of former F1 drivers, principal of which must be Mick Schumacher, Robert Kubica and 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button. Paul Di Resta, Sebastien Bourdais, Sebastian Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Will Stevens, Andre Lotterer, Antonio Giovinazzi, Daniil Kvyat, Jean-Eric Vergne, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck De Vries make up the rest of the ex-F1 list.
Former and current IndyCar drivers due to take part in this season include reigning champion Alex Palou, multiple champion Scott Dixon and race winner Mike Conway.
Perhaps the most interesting set of drives making the move into the WEC is a series of former F2 and F3 drivers who have sought a new career as the route to single seaters closes off to them. Callum Ilott, runner-up to Mick Schumacher in F2, will race for Jota, Ferdinand Habsburg has set his stall out in sportscars for several years now and gets his drive in a Hypercar with Alpine for the first time while Ferrari protege Robert Schwartzman will race the AF Corse 499P.
But one driver stands above all of these in terms of the eyes he could bring to the WEC. Multiple Motorcycle World Champion Valentino Rossi never tried to hide his ambitions to race in cars when his two-wheeled career finished. For 2024 his route to the Hypercar class continues with a drive in WRT’s BMW M4. Rossi has shown some good speed through the various GT3 series in which he has taken part over the last few years, so it will be fascinating to see how he adapts to the global scene.