APEX RACEWIRE Newsroom
Robert Shwartzman Secures Factory Peugeot Hypercar Drive for 2027 WEC
Former Le Mans Hypercar race winner Robert Shwartzman will return to the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2027 after signing a full-time factory contract with Team Peugeot TotalEnergies.
By Michael de Vries - 2026-09-08T17:27:00.000Z - 3 min read
Team Peugeot TotalEnergies has secured Robert Shwartzman as a factory driver for the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship, committing the 26-year-old to a full-season Hypercar programme that includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The agreement marks a return to the WEC paddock for the former Hypercar race winner following a two-year spell competing in the United States, placing him directly into the French manufacturer's Peugeot 9X8 lineup.
Preparation for the 2027 campaign will not wait for the turn of the racing calendar. Shwartzman is scheduled to participate in several private test sessions with the 9X8, logging preparatory mileage and familiarising himself with the hybrid prototype well ahead of his race debut. Emmanuel Esnault, team principal at Team Peugeot TotalEnergies, framed the signing as a calculated addition, pointing to the driver's natural speed, rapid adaptability and maturity as decisive factors for the French marque's ongoing top-category ambitions.
From the driver's perspective, the agreement offers a long-desired path back to the endurance discipline. Shwartzman acknowledged that sports car racing was something he had genuinely missed across his two campaigns in North America, highlighting that early discussions with Peugeot created an immediate feeling of inclusion. The Russian-Israeli driver noted that the professional atmosphere and the long-term scope of the 2027 project provided strong motivation to help write the manufacturer's next chapter in the championship.
His transition back across the Atlantic follows an eye-catching chapter in the IndyCar Series, headlined by a historic performance at Indianapolis. During the 2025 running of the Indianapolis 500, Shwartzman became the first rookie in the history of the event to claim pole position. His subsequent availability for a WEC return arrived alongside shifts within his American programme, with Motorsport.com reporting that Prema Racing, the operation with which he achieved his Indy 500 milestone, subsequently withdrew from IndyCar competition.
Endurance racing is familiar terrain for Shwartzman, who made an immediate impact upon his initial arrival in the paddock. Having stepped into GT racing in 2023, he topped the timing sheets at the official Bahrain rookie test that same autumn. A year later, he validated that promise at the highest level of the discipline by securing his maiden Hypercar victory at the 2024 Lone Star Le Mans, sharing the customer AF Corse-run Ferrari 499P to win at Circuit of the Americas.
That endurance breakthrough represented the culmination of a traditional junior formula ascent that started in karting at age five. Shwartzman captured the FIA Formula 3 championship in 2019 before finishing as runner-up in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, scoring two victories and eight podiums across two seasons. That performance earned him reserve driver roles in Formula 1 before his professional focus expanded toward international prototype and endurance racing.
In signing Shwartzman, Peugeot brings a proven Hypercar race winner into a team determined to establish regular contention at the sharp end of the FIA WEC grid. Although his race debut in the 9X8 remains a season away, the coming months will be dedicated to private testing, system correlation and technical integration behind closed doors, laying the necessary groundwork before the squad steps back onto the world stage at Le Mans.