A preliminary entry list for Sunday’s FIA World Endurance Championship Rookie Test at Bahrain International Circuit (9 November) has today been released – featuring a whole host of rising stars eager to showcase their skills in Hypercar and LMGT3 machinery.
Taking place a day after the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain season finale, the annual Rookie Test – a staple of the FIA WEC calendar for the past decade – has previously served as a springboard for the likes of Julien Andlauer, Mathieu Jaminet, Norman Nato, Célia Martin and Ben Barnicoat to fast-track their career progression.
As another case in point, 2023 FIA Formula 2 champion Théo Pourchaire will make his competitive bow this weekend for Team Peugeot TotalEnergies, after impressing the French manufacturer with his performance in last year’s test – his maiden outing in the podium-finishing 9X8 Hypercar.
Peugeot’s 2025 ‘Rookie’ cohort have already been announced, as has Lexus LMGT3 regular Barnicoat alongside Super Formula and Super GT star Sacha Fenestraz at TOYOTA GAZOO Racing.
Highly-rated British duo Ollie Gray and Tom Fleming, meanwhile, have been selected by the FIA WEC promoter to take to the wheel of the title-winning Hypercar and LMGT3 car respectively – with their names set to be added to the list as soon as the identities of those two cars is known.
Former Porsche Carrera Cup France champion Dorian Boccolacci will join the pair on-track in Proton Competition’s Porsche 963 Hypercar, with Lilou Wadoux and Alessio Rovera being offered the opportunity to experience Ferrari’s championship-leading 499P prototype.
The Frenchwoman became the legendary Maranello-based marque’s first female factory driver in the discipline in 2023 – the same year that she similarly made history as the first female race-winner in FIA WEC, in the GTE Am division at Spa-Francorchamps. This season, she clinched the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship’s GTD class Michelin Endurance Cup crown in partnership with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Simon Mann.
Wadoux will pilot the #51 Ferrari in Sakhir – her second Rookie Test appearance in the 499P – while current VISTA AF Corse LMGT3 title protagonist Rovera will climb into the cockpit of the yellow #83 AF Corse machine. The Italian triumphed in-class at Spa earlier this season and reached the rostrum at both Le Mans and Fuji.
Along with team-mates Mann and François Hériau, Rovera will be bidding to overturn an 11-point deficit to Manthey 1st Phorm in the season finale before stepping up to sample the Le Mans-winning Hypercar, having played a part in its development during the months leading up to its race debut in 2023.
Another Italian will take to the track in the Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, in the shape of last year’s 24 Hours of Spa winner Mattia Drudi. A season-long competitor in the #27 Aston Martin Vantage, the Rimini native notably claimed the LMGT3 category pole position for the 2025 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“I’m super-excited to drive a car that is already iconic in the Hypercar Class, even though it is only its first season racing in FIA WEC,” commented Drudi, a works driver for the famous British brand. “I’ve been closely following the progress of the Valkyrie throughout the championship, and it was fantastic to see it record a strong result at Fuji.
“It will be interesting for me to drive straight after a race weekend, so I can compare my data with what’s been collected during the event. It will also be a challenge to get used to a car that will be completely new for me. I must thank The Heart of Racing team for giving me this chance – it will be the perfect way to end my first FIA WEC season with Aston Martin.”
Cadillac Racing IMSA duo Jack Aitken and Ricky Taylor will similarly join the fray. The former teamed up with regular Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA driver Earl Bamber and 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship runner-up Frederik Vesti to win the final two races of the recently-completed IMSA campaign with Cadillac Whelen – on his way to securing the runner-up spoils in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) standings.
The British-Korean ace has piloted the V-Series.R in each of the latest three editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, posting the fastest Hypercar lap to-date around the track in the Hyperpole 1 session in 2025.
“This is going to be another good opportunity for cross-pollination across the Cadillac Racing programmes, and I’m keen to work with Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA after seeing them in action at Le Mans earlier this year,” remarked Aitken. “We’ve had some interaction already, but it will be good to try their car first-hand and see how things are done in FIA WEC as well. It will be an exciting weekend for me and a nice end to the season.”
Taylor, meanwhile, formed part of the #101 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing entry at La Sarthe back in June, and notched up three podium finishes alongside 2019/20 FIA WEC LMP2 champion Filipe Albuquerque in IMSA’s top-tier this year.
“I’m looking forward to being part of it and to get the experience of driving the JOTA Cadillac,” commented the elder son of endurance racing legend, Wayne Taylor. “My focus is to learn from the team and GM about the Cadillac that races in FIA WEC with JOTA, and how they do things differently to us in the States with WTR.”
In LMGT3, meanwhile, VISTA AF Corse will entrust its pair of Ferraris to single-seater exponents Nicola Lacorte and Matías Zagazeta. Just 18 years of age, the former competed in Formula 4 before moving up to Formula Regional and subsequently FIA Formula 3. He made his debut at the wheel of the 296 in IMSA competition earlier this year.
Zagazeta has followed a similar career path, with the 22-year-old Peruvian getting acquainted with the Ferrari for the first time in the recent European Le Mans Series’ Rookie Test at Portimão in Portugal, where he lapped fastest in both sessions.
The five hours of running at Bahrain International Circuit will begin at 10:00 local time (08:00 CET) on Sunday, 9 November, with teams able to continue adding drivers to the entry list between now and the start of the test.
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