Robert Shwartzman to return to WEC Hypercar ranks with Peugeot

Shwartzman makes WEC return with Peugeot

Robert Shwartzman will return to the World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar field next season after agreeing to join Peugeot. The 26-year-old will drive one of the French manufacturer’s revised 9X8 Le Mans Hypercars as the programme prepares for its 2027 campaign.

The move follows Prema Racing’s withdrawal from the IndyCar Series. Shwartzman had claimed pole position for the 2025 Indianapolis 500 with the team, but he has no race programme this year after Prema’s departure from the championship at the start of 2026.

His return to endurance racing also reunites him with a category in which he has already delivered a notable result. Shwartzman previously raced a satellite Ferrari 499P LMH entered by AF Corse, winning the 2024 Austin round alongside Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye. During his time as a Ferrari Formula 1 test and reserve driver from 2022 to 2024, he also competed for a factory AF-run entry in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

The latest Austin WEC coverage underlines the championship’s competitive endurance-racing environment, but Shwartzman’s immediate focus will be adapting to Peugeot’s revised Hypercar project.

“I’m extremely happy to be returning to the WEC after my time racing in the US,” Shwartzman said. “Endurance racing is something I’ve really missed over the past two seasons, and I’m thrilled to be joining Team Peugeot TotalEnergies.”

He added that he felt welcomed from his first discussions with the team and described the 2027 programme as “particularly exciting”, saying he was eager to contribute to its next chapter.

First Peugeot test planned for Algarve

Shwartzman has yet to test Peugeot’s LMH. His first opportunity will come in the middle of this month at the Algarve circuit, where the team will conduct its second test of the heavily revised 2027 version of the 9X8. The car first ran at Paul Ricard at the end of July.

Peugeot Sport team principal Emmanuel Esnault highlighted Shwartzman’s “natural speed, adaptability and maturity”, as well as his mindset, approach and positivity. Esnault said the team wanted to build something strong both “on the human side and the sporting side”.

Peugeot’s 2027 driver line-up is not yet complete. Esnault said there were still decisions to make, while Doriane Pin is scheduled to drive a 2026-specification 9X8 at Paul Ricard at the start of December. Pin joined Peugeot as a development driver in March and is being assessed for a possible test and reserve role after her 2025 F1 Academy title and current LMP2 programme in the European Le Mans Series.