Pourchaire in line for Peugeot Hypercar reserve role

Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire is under consideration for a test and reserve role with Peugeot’s World Endurance Championship squad along with former sparring partner Clement Novalak.

Poruchaire, who also raced with Arrow McLaren in IndyCar this year, and LMP2 regular Novalak have entered the frame to replace Malthe Jakobsen on his graduation to a race seat in place of Nico Muller for 2025 after taking part in the official WEC rookie test in Bahrain earlier this month.

Peugeot has stated that it wanted to take a look at some new drivers and confirmed that they are in contention for the seventh spot in the Peugeot Sport WEC squad.

Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie said: “It is always interesting to evaluate drivers for the future. The idea of the rookie test for us was to test some proper rookies.

“We looked at some potential drivers: we wanted someone with strong single-seater experience and recent prototype experience, and that is Clement [who raced in the European Le Mans Series with Inter Europol in 2024]. Theo has a bit of a different profile but is obviously very talented.”

When asked if Pourchaire and Novalak were being evaluated for a potential reserve role, Jansonnie replied in the affirmative. He confirmed that Peugeot would go into 2025 with a seventh driver, but he stressed that no decisions had been made.

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Malthe Jakobsen, Théo Pourchaire, Clement Novalak

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Pourchaire stated that he was open to a reserve role with Peugeot alongside a proper return to competition after a season in which he started out in Super Formula with Team Impul before switching to what turned out to be a disjointed IndyCar campaign.

“A reserve driver role in Hypercar, why not?” said the 2023 F2 title winner, who holds a similar position in Formula 1 with Sauber. “It could help me have a full-time role in the future, but for sure I am looking for a drive to actually race.”

Should Pourchaire land a Peugeot drive, it is likely that he would be placed in LMP2 next year to gain race experience. He was spotted with the Algarve Pro Racing P2 squad at Paul Ricard during a Goodyear tyre test last week.

Novalak, a race winner in F2 in ’23, said: “If I could dream of anything it would be getting a reserve role [in Hypercar] and doing the ELMS and the IMSA SportsCar Championships [in P2],” said the London-based Franco-Swiss.

Pourchaire and Novalak are not under consideration for race seats at Peugeot for next year.

The team will go into the new season with an unchanged roster in its two 9X8 2024 Le Mans Hypercars with the exception of Jakobsen. But the Dane will not necessarily slot in as a like-for-like replacement for Muller in the #93 entry alongside Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Jansonnie explained that the final decision on the line-ups in each car had yet to be made.

Peugeot shuffled drivers between cars for 2024 when Stoffel Vandoorne moved up from the reserve role on the departure of Gustavo Menezes. He took Menezes’s seat in the #94 car, driving alongside Loic Duval and Paul di Resta, who swapped places with Muller between seasons.