Josef Newgarden Will Not Race For Penske Porsche at Le Mans

source: instagram.com/josefnewgarden

Team Penske Motorsport has announced that full-season drivers from its IMSA SportsCar Championship line-up will take the two spots in its third Porsche 963 LMDh at the upcoming Le Mans on 15/16 June. The team-mates for Mathieu Jaminet, the only driver nominated for the #4 car on the publication of the full 62-car entry list for the 24 Hours in February, will be selected from Nick Tandy, Felipe Nasr, and Dane Cameron.

Despite his ambition to race at the centrepiece round of the WEC, driver Josef Newgarden will not be part of the Le Mans line-up this year. Team founder Roger Penske pointed out that bringing Newgarden into the Le Mans line-up would involve the necessity of further testing in the 963 alongside what he described as "a big job in IndyCar".

A decision and announcement on the drivers for the final two spots in #4 will be made at the end of this month or the beginning of April.

The third Porsche 963 fielded alongside the two regular PPM WEC entries was raced last year by Jaminet, Tandy, and Nasr, with Matt Campbell fulfilling the reserve role.

The Australian is now part of the full-time WEC line-up in #5 alongside Frederic Makowiecki and Michael Christensen after swapping seats with Cameron.

Fielding an extra car in any of the IMSA enduros is not on the cards, according to Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach. "It is not planned right now, but never say never because you never know what situation comes up," he said.