Nico Muller will make an early debut with Peugeot in Bahrain

On November 12, the Swiss will drive the #94 Peugeot 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar in the Bahrain 8 Hours alongside Loic Duval and Gustavo Menezes.

Muller replaces James Rossiter, who as reserve driver took the seat vacated by Kevin Magnussen after the Danish driver’s return to F1 with Haas in March.

Rossiter retired from driving after being announced as team principal of Peugeot’s Formula E subsidiary Maserati.

Muller was included in the Bahrain line-up following the 9X8’s first test outing at Monza, which followed Peugeot Sport’s return from the Fuji WEC round in mid-September.

Olivier Jansani, technical director of the LMH program at Peugeot, said: “Nico impressed during his day in the car at our Monza test.

“He was calm, focused and provided valuable technical feedback on the Peugeot 9X8 that confirmed the views of his new teammates.

“He has fitted in easily with the team and now everything is ready for him to make his debut in Bahrain.”

Peugeot Muller’s recruitment from Audi, announced last month, was seen as his addition to the WEC 2023 line-up, but the door remained open to plans for the rest of this year.

Muller explained at the time that he had permission from Audi to drive a Peugeot this year and had not ruled out racing a Peugeot LMH in Bahrain.

Jansonnie also thanked Rossiter for his role in the 9X8 project, which included him as the main simulator driver.

“I know I speak for everyone in the team when I applaud all the great work James has done over the last year or so,” he said.

“He will remain as our back-up and development driver on the track for a few more weeks before moving on to a new role for which he is ideally qualified.”

Müller competed in the first four races of this year’s WEC with the Vector Sport LMP2 team before skipping Fuji to take his usual place with the Rosberg Audi team in the DTM at the back-to-back Spa race.

His place at Vector has been taken by Renger van der Zande, who has been confirmed to return to the team for Bahrain, alongside Sébastien Bourdais and Ryan Cullen.