Peugeot promotes test driver Quinn to race seat for 2027 WEC

Peugeot has announced that Alex Quinn will step into a race seat for the 2027 World Endurance Championship as part of a major reshuffling of its driver line-up.

Quinn will join the French manufacturer’s Hypercar squad after impressing Peugeot in his role as a test and development driver this year.

The Briton turned his first laps in the 9X8 during last November’s Bahrain rookie test, before being formally inducted into Peugeot’s programme as the ‘seventh driver’.

Since then, he has been groomed for a possible graduation to a race seat, following a similar path to his predecessor Malthe Jakobsen.

The news of Quinn’s appointment was made official on Thursday, just days after he clinched the LMP2 title in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with CrowdStrike by APR.

"Becoming an official driver for Team Peugeot TotalEnergies in the FIA World Endurance Championship is a dream come true,” said Quinn, who will turn 26 in December.

“It has been fantastic working with the team throughout this year, both at the factory and during testing programmes.

“Stepping up to a full-time race seat is something I am incredibly excited about and something I feel ready for after my recent successes in other championships. Most importantly, I am extremely grateful to everyone at Team Peugeot TotalEnergies for this opportunity, and I hope this is the beginning of an exciting journey together."

Alex Quinn, Peugeot 9X8

Photo by: Peugeot Sport

Quinn started his career in single-seater racing, winning races in British F3 and Renault Eurocup before graduating to Formula Regional Europe in 2021.

He transitioned to sportscar racing in 2023 and has since enjoyed plenty of success in both IMSA and the European Le Mans Series.

While he is new to the WEC, he has been active at the Le Mans 24 Hours for the past three seasons, and was victorious in the LMP2 Pro/Am sub-category this year.

"We are delighted to promote Alex from a role of test and development driver to a full-time race driver role in 2027. Alex has demonstrated great abilities at the wheel of the car when testing with us and sporting achievements in LMP2 again this season,” said Peugeot team principal Emmanuel Esnault.

“Alex's pedigree is quite impressive as a Le Mans Winner in LMP2 Pro-Am, a Rolex Daytona LMP2 Winner, and an IMSA and ELMS race winner.

This is the second time that at Peugeot, we are promoting a young talent coming from the LMP2 landscape into a race driver role in LMH, and we are looking forward to racing with him next year at the wheel of the evolved PEUGEOT 9X8 ."

Peugeot reshuffling

Peugeot’s driver line-up is set for a major shake-up in 2027, with Stoffel Vandoorne having left the team following last month’s Fuji event and Theo Pourchaire also departing at the end of the year to focus on his new commitments with Opel in Formula E.

It is also understood that Jakobsen will also quit Peugeot to race for McLaren, which will enter the Hypercar class next year with a new LMDh prototype.

With three seats to fill, Peugeot has already confirmed the signings of Quinn and Robert Shwartzman, while Jean-Eric Vergne is also expected to return to a race seat after focusing on testing duties this year.