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Porsche driver Laurin Heinrich will make his FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar debut at Bahrain, with the Porsche factory team, the German manufacturer has announced.
He will join Julien Andlauer and Mathieu Jaminet in the #5 car for the 8 hour race. On the other side of the garage, Matt Campbell will join Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 machine.
Phil Oakley
Estre and Vanthoor are in the running for the drivers' world championship for the second year running. They currently sit third, 21 points off the leaders, Ferrari's James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Antonio Giovinazzi.
There will be 38 points awarded for a win at Bahrain, as it is one of the series' longer races.
In addition, Porsche have an outside shot at the manufacturers' title, which they missed out on last year, to Toyota. Ferrari have 204 points, with Porsche 39 back on 165.
'Quite a journey' for Heinrich
A seat in a Porsche 963 has been a long time coming for Heinrich. His current full-time drive is in the IMSA Sportscar Championship, behind the wheel of the GTD Pro-entered #77 AO Racing Porsche, known as 'Rexy' to legions of fans.
The German and his teammate, Austrian Klaus Bachler, finished fifth in the GTD Pro results this year in IMSA. They won two races over the course of the year, taking wins at Sebring and Laguna Seca. However, they were not able to defend the title they won last year.
'I'm extremely happy to announce that I will debut in FIA WEC at Bahrain joining the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in Hypercar category,' said Heinrich on social media.
'I will share the car with Julien Andlauer and Mathieu Jaminet for the 8h race. I can't express how excited and thankful I am for this opportunity! It will be my first FIA WEC race, my first race in a prototype and first time driving at Bahrain circuit. So therefore a huge thanks to Porsche for having this much confidence in me! Quite a journey from Porsche Junior 3 years ago to this.'
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