Shwartzman to make WEC return with Peugeot
by Gary Watkins · AutosportThe 26-year-old is making his return to the Hypercar category
Robert Shwartzman will return to the World Endurance Championship Hypercar ranks with Peugeot next season.
The 26-year-old is moving back to sportscars with the French marque to drive one its revised 9X8 Le Mans Hypercars.
It comes after the withdrawal from the IndyCar Series of the Prema Racing team with which he claimed pole position for the 2025 Indianapolis 500.
Shwartzman previously competed in Hypercar aboard the satellite Ferrari 499P LMH entered by the AF Corse team, winning the 2024 Austin round with Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye.
The Russian-Israeli also raced a factory AF-run entry in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup during his time fulfilling test and reserve roles with the Ferrari Formula 1 team from 2022 to 2024.
"I’m extremely happy to be returning to the WEC after my time racing in the US,” said Shwartzman.
“Endurance racing is something I’ve really missed over the past two seasons, and I’m thrilled to be joining Team Peugeot TotalEnergies.
“From my very first discussions with the team, I felt genuinely welcomed and immediately part of the project within a highly professional and ambitious environment.
“The 2027 programme is particularly exciting and I can’t wait to contribute to this new chapter and help write the next stages of the story together."
Shwartzman’s “natural speed, adaptability and maturity make him an ideal fit for our project”, said Peugeot Sport team principal Emmanuel Esnault.
“He is quite impressive not only in terms of speed, but also mindset, approach and positivity, so we are very happy. We want to build something strong on the human side and the sporting side with him.”
Shwartzman, who has no race programme this year after Prema’s IndyCar withdrawal at the start of 2026, has yet to test one of Peugeot’s LMHs.
He will get his first taste of the car in the middle of this month at the Algarve circuit when Peugeot undertakes its second test with the heavily-revised 2027 version of the 9X8. The car ran for the first time at Paul Ricard at the end of July.
Esnault, who joined Peugeot Sport for this season, explained that there were “still some decisions to make” as it finalises its WEC driver line-up for 2027.
Doriane Pin will get her first run in a 2026-spec 9X8 at Paul Ricard at the start of December after being signed by Peugeot as a development driver in March.
It had been planned for the 2025 F1 Academy champion, who is racing in LMP2 in the European Le Mans Series this year, to be given a try-out in a 9X8 at the official WEC rookie test in Bahrain the day after the WEC finale.
The replacement of the Middle Eastern race with a round at Monza has resulted in the new date at Ricard. Esnault confirmed that she was being assessed for a possible test and reserve role on the WEC squad.
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
- The Autosport.com Team
Read and post comments