Hypercar rookie Théo Pourchaire believes victory is within reach for Team Peugeot TotalEnergies in 2026, as the rising French star aims high during his rookie campaign in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Pourchaire diverted his career trajectory from single-seaters to prototype competition last year, integrating the European Le Mans Series’ LMP2 category with Algarve Pro Racing and ascending the podium at Imola – scene of the forthcoming FIA WEC curtain-raising contest on 17-19 April.
The Frenchman went on to make his top-flight debut in November’s Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain – the prelude to a full-time race seat with Peugeot this year alongside fellow young gun, Malthe Jakobsen and 2013 world champion, Loïc Duval – and turned heads by leading the pack first time out. With the experience he has gained in the discipline so far, he is optimistic he will be able to hit the ground running.
“The ELMS programme gave me the chance to acclimatise to endurance racing and get used to specific elements like driver changes during races and traffic management,” Pourchaire told French newspaper, Nice Matin.
“I also have great memories from Bahrain, because the race went very well from my perspective, even if the intervention of the safety car one lap after our final pit-stop denied us a top five finish. That was obviously frustrating, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes. On the positive side, I didn’t make any mistakes, I settled into a good rhythm and it was very cool to lead for a little bit. That gave me a lot of confidence to carry with me into 2026.”
The former FIA Formula 2 champion will dovetail his racing commitments with Peugeot in FIA WEC alongside development driver duties for Mercedes in Formula 1. He hopes his dual role will accelerate the Lion’s quest to reach the top step of the rostrum for the first time in the Hypercar class.
“Playing a part in the development of a Formula 1 car inside a top team will undoubtedly help me to grow and progress as a driver,” he asserted, “and that will benefit me in endurance racing with Peugeot, too.
“We’ve been preparing hard on the simulator, and I can draw upon all the experience of the team’s engineers and my team-mates. I call Loïc the father in our #94 crew! He’s the one in charge. He’s had a fantastic career in endurance racing and I can learn so much from him. Malthe, by contrast, is the same age as me, but he hasn’t competed so much in single-seaters – he moved quickly into endurance racing and he had a very solid first season with Peugeot.”
Pourchaire is already familiar with five of the eight circuits on the 2026 FIA WEC calendar, with only Interlagos, Fuji and Lusail representing uncharted territory for him, but he has proven his abilities as a quick learner before and behind the wheel of the strikingly re-liveried 9X8, he is ready and eager to show his claws.
“I love the new design – it’s really motivational for everybody,” enthused the 22-year-old Grasse native “It’s really original, and I think it will stand out even more at speed.
“Of course I’m feeling some pressure – that’s completely normal, because there has been a lot of investment in this project and our performance on-track influences the brand’s image off-track – but I had to deal with plenty of pressure racing in Formula 2 and IndyCar and as a reserve driver for Alfa Romeo in F1.
“The objective this season is to score the 9X8’s first win. It wasn’t far away at Fuji last year. In such a fiercely-competitive field in which the gaps are so small, every second counts, so you have to grasp the opportunity when it presents itself – but I think winning a race is an achievable target.”
