A bumper crop of 26 WEC rookies will take to the track at the Qatar 1812km this weekend. Below is what you need to know about them in our special ‘meet the rookies’ feature.
LMGT3
Darren Leung
Team: Team WRT
Nat: British
Age: 36
Leung competed in the Ginetta 2021 GT4 SuperCup and gained more GT4 experience in the 24H Series at the Dubai 24 Hours and Abu Dhabi 6 Hours.
A memorable win at Donington Park in the British GT Championship in 2022 alongside former WEC racer Alexander Sims was a breakthrough success, before a full season of BGT last season witnessed two ins and title success in a BMW M4 GT3 run by Century Motorsport.
Valentino Rossi
Team: Team WRT
Nat: Italian
Age: 45
Seven-time Moto GP champion and motorsport legend, Rossi makes his WEC debut with Team WRT in LMGT3 this season alongside Ahmad Al Harthy and Maxime Martin.
Rossi’s experience in GT3 started in 2019 when he took part in the Gulf 12 Hours. Since then, he has raced in various European GT series, including the Michelin Le Mans Cup where he memorably won the 2023 Le Mans race alongside Jerome Policand.
James Cottingham
Team: United Autosports
Nat: British
Age: 40
A director of the well-known DK Engineering restoration company, Cottingham has been racing in GTs since 2021 when he took in some races in British GT with a RAM Racing Mercedes AMG Evo.
A full season followed in 2022 and 2023, the latter of which saw him finish a close runner-up in the title standings with a 2 Seas Motorsport run Mercedes.
Cottingham makes his international racing debut in 2024 alongside Nicolas Costa and Gregoire Saucy in the No.59 United Autosports McLaren 720S.
Nicolas Costa
Team: United Autosports
Nat: Brazilian
Age: 32
Reigning Porsche Carrera GT champion Costa arrives in WEC on a high as he gets set to campaign a McLaren 720S for United Autosports in the No.59 entry.
An experienced racer, Costa previously raced in several series including the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Blancpain GT3 and Italian GT Championship. He took the 2016 Italian GT crown for Vincenzo Sospiri Racing.
Gregoire Saucy
Team: United Autosports
Nat: Swiss
Age: 24
Swiss racer Saucy started out in mini-endurance racing in the VdeV series before trying single-seaters in Italian F4 and Formula Renault Eurocup.
After taking the Formula Regional crown in 2021, he graduated to FIA F3 in 2022 with the ART GP team taking two podium positions.
This season he joins United Autosports in the No.59 United Autosports McLaren 720S alongside James Cottingham and Nicolas Costa.
Franck Perera
Team: Iron Lynx
Nat: French
Age: 39
Experienced Perera joins Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni in the No.60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan Evo2 this season.
Perera was a single-seater contemporary of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and finished fourth in the 2005 F3 Euro Series.
A long endurance career started in 2012 after racing in GP2 and briefly Indycars. This saw him win the 2015 European Le Mans Series GTC class and the 2018 GTD category at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Timur Boguslavskiy
Team: Akkodis ASP Team
Age: 23
Boguslavskiy started racing early and by the age of 18 was already crowned Lamborghini Super Trofeo Middle East – Pro champion.
That led to appearances for Akkodis ASP team from 2019 to 2023. Last season saw him win the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with
This season he makes his WEC debut with Arnold Robin and Kelvin van der Linde in the No.78 Lexus.
Kelvin van der Linde
Team: Akkodis ASP Team
Nat: South African
Age: 27
Springbok van der Linde comes from a large racing family and arrived in Europe during 2014 racing the ADAC GT Master where he immediately took the title.
He repeated that feat in 2019, while also racing in Blancpain GT3 and DTM with ABT.
Van der Linde, the elder brother of BMW WRT’s Sheldon, is also a two-time winner of the Nürburgring 24 Hours. He races in his first season of WEC for the Akkodis ASP Lexus squad.
Sebastien Baud
Team: TF Sport
Nat: Belgian
Age: 23
Baud scored some strong results in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Bronze Cup last season.
Prior to that he raced in the GT4 Europe, French GT and Michelin LM Cup in 2021 and the Ligier Euro Series R class Champion (4 wins) in 2020 where he took four wins.
He joins Hiroshi Koizumi and Daniel Juncadella in the No.82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.
Daniel Juncadella
Team: TF Sport
Nat: Spanish
Age: 32
Racing is in the Spaniards blood as he is the nephew of former F1 and Le Mans driver Luis-Perez Sala
Juncadella is one of the most highly rated GT3 drivers of his generation and arrives in WEC after many achievements in his career to date. These include a Formula 3 title in 2012 and the 2022 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup crown.
Formerly a Mercedes factory driver, Juncadella will compete this season in the No.82 TF Sport Corvette.
Yasser Shahin
Team: Manthey EMA
Nat: Australian
Age: 47
A co-owner of The Bend Motorsport Park in Adelaide, Shahin has been racing in GT3 since 2018.
In 2021, he took the Pro-Am GT World Challenge Australia Championship, with six wins and then successfully defended that crown in 2022 .
A 2023 Asian Le Mans Series campaign was completed with United Autosports and included a second place at Yas Marina.
Morris Schuring
Team: Manthey EMA
Nat: Dutch
Age: 19
The youngest driver on the 2024 WEC grid, Schuring came to prominence in the 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany before taking second in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East title.
Schuring also raced in the Porsche Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup Germany in 2022 and 2023, while also taking in two races of the 2024 Asian Le Mans Series with Herberth Motorsport.
For his WEC debut season Schuring will partner Yasser Shahin and Richard Lietz in the No.91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R machine.
Aliaksandr Malykhin
Team: Manthey Pure Rxcing
Nat: St Kitts & Nevis
Age: 36
Malykhin raced in the British GT Championship for several seasons before making his name in 2023 with title successes in the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Bronze Cup. He followed that up with more silverware in the 2023-24 Asian Le Mans Series after taking two wins at Dubai and Sepang.
For 2024 he is joined at Manthey Pure Rxcing by Joel Strum and Klaus Bachler.
Joel Sturm
Team: Manthey PureRxcing
Nat: German
Age: 22
A product of GT4 racing in 2020 and 2021 when he raced in the German and European Series, Sturm took a win in the 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Bronze series with a Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3.
Sturm also tasted success in the recent Asian Le Mans Series when he partnered WEC teammates Aliaksandr Malykhin and Klaus Bachler to seal the title.
Joshua Caygill
Team: United Autosports
Nat: British
Age: 34
Caygill started out in motorsport racing motorbikes but soon switched to four wheels, racing in the 2018 Blancpain GT Series and the British Touring Car Championship.
He switched to endurance racing in the European Le Mans Series, VLN and Michelin Le Mans Cup in 2022 and 2023, before committing to a WEC programme with United Autosports with a McLaren 720S that he will share with Marino Sato and Nicolas Pino.
Marino Sato
Team: United Autosports
Nat: Japanese
Age:24
From Yokohama in Japan, Sato rose through the junior single seater ranks all the way to Formula Two. That career included a 2018 title success in the Euroformula Open Championship in 2019.
By 2023 Sato decided to switch to a sportscar career, signing for United Autosports and a full season in the European Le Mans Series LMP2 class. That brought success with wins at Aragon and Portimao and a close second in the points standings.
Clement Mateu
Team: D’Station
Nat: French
Age: 42
Mateu made the switch to endurance racing in 2016 with IDEC Sport in the VdeV series before moving on to Blancpain GT competition for several seasons with Attempto Racing.
Porsche Supercup and GT World Challenge races followed until an entry in to Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Bronze series last season.
He makes his WEC debut this season as part of the re-organised D’Station Racing line-up alongside Marco Sorensen and Erwan Bastard.
Erwan Bastard
Team: D’Station Racing
Nat: French
Age: 25
With an engineering background, Bastard has gained increasing respect for his racing after beginning in the French GT4 Cup in 2018.
A double French and European GT4 title was secured in 2022 before a graduation to the 2023 GT World Challenge last year, again with Sainteloc Racing.
He moves in to WEC this season, joining Marco Sorensen and countryman Clement Mateu with the Japanese D’Station Racing Aston Martin squad.
