The Chinese sportscar protege targeting a path to the top with Porsche

"The perfect season minus one lap." That's how Yifei Ye sums up his maiden year of sportscar racing in 2021. The Chinese driver’s switch from single-seaters to endurance racing in the LMP2 ranks yielded a pair of titles, in the Asian and European Le Mans Series, but he missed out on victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours courtesy of that missing lap. Yet it was his performance in the big one prior to his WRT ORECA rolling to a halt out of the lead with just eight or so miles of the race to run that helped him to the prize that edged his season towards perfection.

Just days after its completion, 21-year-old Ye was announced as a Porsche driver. Not a full-factory driver, it should be pointed out; rather he is contracted to Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific. But the Chinese-based organisation has been very clear in an intent to do its utmost to give its new charge a shot at a seat in one of Porsche’s new LMDh prototypes that will race in both the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship from next year.