On Sunday, the day after the 2022 World Endurance Championship (WEC) season finale, the traditional test day will take place at the Bahrain International Circuit. Among other things, Peugeot had reported Stoffel Vandoorne for this, but this plan now has to be overturned because the Belgian is not available due to illness.
“Due to appendicitis, Stoffel Vandoorne will not take part in the FIA WEC rookie test on November 13 in Bahrain,” said Peugeot in a statement, and took this opportunity to wish the current Formula E world champion “a speedy recovery”.
It is currently unknown how long Vandoorne will be out. Peugeot wants to announce a replacement driver “in the coming days”. This currently unknown reserve driver will share the Peugeot 9X8 with starting number 93 with regular driver Mikkel Jensen instead of Vandoorne at the test on Sunday.
Vandoorne is not in Bahrain at the moment, as he was not registered for the Thursday-Saturday 8 Hours of Bahrain race weekend anyway. The Belgian’s arrival for the test was planned for the end of the week but has now had to be cancelled.
Vandoorne was originally awarded the contract for the Bahrain test by Peugeot because he had signed with DS-Penske for the 2023 Formula E season. DS is a sister brand of Peugeot. Both brands now belong to the Stellantis Group. Vandoorne had won the 2022 Formula E title for Mercedes.
While Vandoorne cannot take part in the Bahrain test after all, nothing stands in the way of Formula E companion Maximilian Günther. The German, who drives for another Stellantis brand – namely Maserati – in the 2023 season of the electric racing series, is seeded for Sunday as one of three drivers in the second Peugeot 9X8.
For Günther, the Bahrain test will become what it is actually called, namely the rookie test in a WEC car. In the course of his racing career so far, Günther has only driven formula cars and is now sitting in a car with a roof for the first time. On the other hand, it would not have been Vandoorne’s first outing in a car in the Endurance World Championship. The Belgian drove the entire 2021 WEC season for Jota in the LMP2 class.