The previous Sauber and Manor System 1 racer took half in a multi-day endurance check with the Porsche Penske Motorsport staff at Sebring, Autosport has discovered.
Information of the try-out comes at a time when it seems that Porsche nonetheless has a vacant seat in its deliberate 10-driver line-up throughout the Penske-run manufacturing unit staff’s twin assaults on the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship subsequent yr.
Wehrlein’s check hints at Porsche contemplating giving the German a double programme subsequent season in System E and in sportscars.
This could nearly definitely be within the WEC, which has no clashes with FE other than the Jakarta double-header going down on the identical weekend because the Le Mans check day per week forward of the 24 Hours.
Porsche was unable to verify that Wehrlein sampled the solo 963 at Sebring final week, solely revealing that a whole of 9 drivers obtained behind the wheel over the course of 4 days’ operating.
Requested if Wehrlein was a contender for an LMDh drive, a Porsche spokesman stated he “wouldn’t participate within the hypothesis sport”.
Porsche has already introduced eight of the 10 drivers who will race for the Penske-run manufacturing unit staff within the two collection.
It now seems to be sure that Nick Tandy has already signed to fill one of many two unannounced seats after no point out of the 2015 Le Mans winner was made when his present employer, Chevrolet, introduced its 2023 programmes final week.
The probably cause his return to Porsche after two seasons away has not been introduced is as a result of his programme with Chevy’s Corvette Racing GTE Professional WEC squad is not going to end till subsequent month with the Bahrain collection finale.
Frederic Makowiecki can be recognized to have pushed over the course of the 4 days at Sebring final week and seems to stay in rivalry for the ultimate seat.
Porsche 963 LMDh
Picture by: Porsche
The Frenchman was the primary to drive the Porsche LMDh on each the simulator and the race observe.
When Porsche introduced six LMDh drivers on the official launch of the automobile in June, Makowiecki’s enter into the mission was recognised in its assertion.
Antonio Felix da Costa, who’s becoming a member of Wehrlein within the Porsche FE squad for subsequent season, will not be considered within the operating for a manufacturing unit sportscar drive.
As an alternative, the Portuguese is prone to stay with the British Jota staff, which turned the primary Porsche LMDh buyer to be introduced for the WEC final June.
Da Costa has been a part of the Jota LMP2 line-up within the WEC for the previous three seasons and leads the 2022 factors along with Will Stevens and Roberto Gonzalez going into the Bahrain eight Hours on November 12.
The eight prototype drivers confirmed by Porsche to date have been introduced in two tranches: Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron had been unveiled final December; after which Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen, Laurens Vanthoor, Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet had been unveiled on the finish of June.
Porsche’s Sebring check final week started on Tuesday with a day of set-up work, earlier than PPM moved on to endurance testing on the Wednesday.
It accomplished roughly 7300km of operating over the 4 days, which included a 36-hour check.
It now means the 963 LMDh design has amassed a complete of 24,500km for the reason that roll-out of the primary automobile in January.
The Porsche spokesman revealed that the automobile suffered “no main downside” and was solely delayed by “Sebring-type points associated to the bumps”.
He described the check as a “huge milestone” for the staff.
shares
feedback
