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Nico Hülkenberg to race for Porsche at Le Mans

Current Formula One racer, Nico Hülkenberg will race the third Porsche 919 Hybrid in the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans after Weissach announced it has signed the services of the German racer for next June’s endurance classic.

Hülkenberg, who will again race for Sahara Force India in F1 next season, will take part in Porsche’s Le Mans warm-up race at the FIA WEC Spa Six Hours before a tilt at the French endurance race.

““Porsche and Le Mans – this combination probably attracts every race driver,” the 27-year-old German explained. “I’ve been a Porsche fan for a long time and have been watching their return to the LMP1 class closely.”

Porsche will return to Le Mans in 2015 with three Porsche 919 Hybrids as it looks for its 17th win at the French endurance race.
Porsche will return to Le Mans in 2015 with three Porsche 919 Hybrids as it looks for its 17th win at the French endurance race.

“The desire grew to drive that car at Le Mans. I am very pleased the 2015 Formula One calendar allows for it and I’m grateful to my Sahara Force India Formula One Team’s generosity to let me go for it,” Hülkenberg continued.

Hülkenberg will become the first driver to dovetail an F1 campaign with a 24 Hours of Le Mans outing since Sebastian Bourdais in 2009. The Frenchman drove for Toro Rosso and Peugeot respectively.

The signing is somewhat of a coup for Porsche, who will be gunning for a 17th overall victory at La Sarthe in 2015, with their last win coming in 1998 with a Porsche 911 GT1-98 driven by Allan McNish, Stéphan Ortelli and Laurent Aïello.

Andreas Seidl, LMP1 team boss, says the signing of Hülkenberg validates the hard work all involved in the 919 Hybrid project.
Andreas Seidl, LMP1 team boss, says the signing of Hülkenberg validates the hard work all involved in the 919 Hybrid project.

“Having caught the interest of another world class driver like Nico is validation for the job the entire Porsche LMP1 crew had done in our first WEC season,” explained LMP1 Team Principal, Andreas Seidl.

“Now we will prepare Nico for his new challenges such as dealing with the traffic of the slower GT cars and racing into the Le Mans night. We have got a road map in place which should enable him to exploit his driving abilities at his Le Mans debut.”

Porsche has yet to reveal the identity of the other two Porsche 919 Hybrid drivers set for a seat in the third Le Mans entry however, current GT drivers, Nick Tandy, Michael Christensen and Frédéric Makowiecki are all believed to be in contention.

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[PIC]

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