Henri Dubois · Endurance Correspondent
Instead of waiting until 2027 as originally planned, Peugeot TotalEnergies is bringing its young driver into the Hypercar cockpit for the final two rounds of the season in Barcelona and Monza.
Team Peugeot TotalEnergies has announced that Alex Quinn will make his WEC Hypercar race debut sooner than initially scheduled. Rather than serving as a test and development driver throughout 2026 and joining the full-time lineup starting in 2027, the rising talent will now join the race roster for the two remaining rounds in Barcelona and Monza, according to Peugeot. Quinn takes over the #93 previously occupied by Stoffel Vandoorne, who departed the team after the Fuji round, and will share the car with Paul di Resta and Nick Cassidy.
From Development Driver to Race Action
Quinn's role at Peugeot had been clearly defined: he would spend 2026 primarily working behind the scenes, running simulator sessions and gathering data during test drives while the full-time lineup handled the race weekends. A permanent seat in the Hypercar cockpit was not expected until 2027. Accelerating that timeline represents a notable decision for a factory team that needs reliability in the Hypercar class rather than experimentation over a full race distance.
Team principal Emmanuel Esnault called the move a logical step forward, noting that since Quinn will join the regular lineup in 2027 anyway, every lap of experience in Barcelona and Monza holds value for the future. Quinn himself described it as a proud moment in his career and said he already feels at home with the team. He brings momentum to the role: this year he won the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP2 title alongside George Kurtz for CrowdStrike by Algarve Pro Racing, plus victory in the LMP2 Pro/Am standings at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
What It Means for Peugeot
In the Hypercar manufacturer standings after six of eight rounds, Peugeot sits seventh of eight manufacturers with 24 points, while Toyota leads at 169. At the same time, the driver lineup faces a major shake-up: beyond Vandoorne's departure, Théo Pourchaire is also leaving the team at season's end according to Autosport, and Jean-Éric Vergne is reported to be returning to a race seat. Adding another driver to the roster is primarily a matter of continuity and long-term planning for Peugeot.
The decision to bring Quinn into race action before his officially designated 2027 full-time seat appears driven by a fundamental principle of endurance racing: prototype teams ideally test their driver trios under real race conditions well before a full season, experiencing everything that comes with it: pit stop communication under pressure, stint lengths at race pace, and integration with an established pit crew. A test program can simulate much, but the wear and tear of a full Hypercar stint over a complete race distance can only be approximated in simulation.
Looking Ahead to Barcelona
Barcelona will serve as Quinn's first real trial run in race trim, before he officially joins Peugeot's regular lineup in 2027. For the team, it will be a weekend that tests how well the groundwork from his development role translates when it matters most in actual competition, not just in the simulator or during test sessions.
After Barcelona comes the season finale at Monza. Two races are not a large sample, but enough to demonstrate how close Quinn already is to the standard expected of a full-time driver in 2027.
