Peugeot announces Hypercar drivers | GRR
Ex-F1 drivers Kevin Magnussen, Paul Di Resta and Jean-Eric Verge will all drive for Peugeot on its return to the World Endurance Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours, joining sportscar regulars Loic Duval, Mikkel Jensen, Gustavo Menezes and James Rossiter.
With a date still not confirmed for the addition of Peugeot to the WEC grid (or the Le Mans 24 Hours), but expected to come some time in 2022, speculation had begun to mount as to when more details of the Le Mans Hypercar class programme would be announced.
Now Peugeot Sport has announced a seven-strong driver line-up, without committing to naming which drivers would be teamed up in which cars.
The line-up is led by a pair of French drivers, both of whom have strong pedigree at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Loic Duval has won the big race as well as the Le Mans 24 Hours in his days with Audi, while double Formula E champion Vergne has several LMP2-class victories in the European Le Mans Series under his belt.
The rest of the line-up features a pair of Danes. Kevin Magnussen, fresh from making his sportscar debut in IMSA, follows in his father’s footsteps to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours, while Mikkel Jensen is the 2019 ELMS LMP3 champion and runner-up in LMP2 in 2020. They are joined by two British racers in the form of reigning Le Mans LMP2 champion and former DTM victor Di Resta and multiple Super GT race-winner James Rossiter, who takes the reserve driver spot. Brazillian Gustavo Menezes completes the septet. Menezes is a former WEC LMP2 champion and has raced in LMP1 with Rebellion as recently as 2020, when he impressed by out-qualifying one of the Toyota TS050s.
A fan of the WEC? Read our list of WEC 2021 cars and drivers.
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.