Wehrlein, Mueller Join Porsche Penske Lineup for Spa

Photo: Porsche

Porsche Penske Motorsport has announced that Pascal Wehrlein and Nico Mueller will reinforce its driver lineups for next month’s third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa-Francorchamps.

Wehrlein, who was named as Porsche’s ninth and final driver for the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month, will share the No. 6 Porsche 963 with reigning world champions Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor for the Belgian event on May 8-10.

Mueller meanwhile will join the sister No. 5 car alongside Julien Andlauer and Michael Christensen to prepare for his role as Porsche’s Le Mans reserve.

Both drivers, whose main programs are in Formula E, have prior race experience of the 963 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with Wehrlein having raced for customer team JDC-Miller Motorsports in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Mueller then stepped in for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for the same team.

“It’s obviously first-class that I can celebrate my debut in FIA WEC at Spa-Francorchamps and get to know the way Porsche Penske Motorsport works even earlier – every competitive kilometre with the Porsche 963 counts,” said Wehrlein.

“In Kevin and Laurens, I have two teammates from whom I can learn a lot. I’m really looking forward to competing on such an iconic racetrack as the Belgian Grand Prix circuit.”

Mueller, who until the end of last year was part of the Peugeot WEC stable, added: “I’m super-happy to be supporting Porsche Penske Motorsport at Le Mans and doing my bit to help achieve the big goal – although of course I hope I won’t be needed there!

“I’m also looking forward to returning to FIA WEC and competing in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps alongside Julien and Michael. Following my Sebring stint in IMSA and some testing, I will be able to complete more important laps with the Porsche 963.

“This is a great opportunity, and I would like to thank both Porsche Penske Motorsport and my Formula E team Andretti for making it possible.”

Matt Campbell and Matthieu Jaminet, who raced for Porsche in first two WEC races of the season at Qatar and Imola, are unavailable for the Spa round due to a clash with the WeatherTech Championship round at Laguna Seca.

While the original plan was for the Weissach marque to contest the race with two drivers per car, Porsche Penske managing director Jonathan Diuguid revealed that an early debut for Wehrlein was under consideration last weekend at Imola.

Diuguid revealed that Wehrlein and Mueller both drove for Porsche in an endurance test at Motorland Aragon in March, with Wehrlein getting further mileage under his belt in a more recent test at Spa earlier this month.