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Stoffel Vandoorne to leave Peugeot WEC Hypercar squad early after Fuji
Peugeot has confirmed that Stoffel Vandoorne will exit its World Endurance Championship lineup immediately following the Fuji 6 Hours.
By Lesley Bakker - 2026-09-26T07:01:48.000Z - 3 min read
Peugeot has announced that Stoffel Vandoorne will part ways with its World Endurance Championship Hypercar squad with immediate effect following the conclusion of this weekend's 6 Hours of Fuji. The Belgian driver was originally scheduled to remain with the French manufacturer until the conclusion of the current campaign, but both parties have chosen to bring his departure forward. Consequently, Vandoorne will not return to the cockpit of the No. 93 machine for the final two rounds of the 2026 FIA WEC season at Barcelona and Monza.
The early exit arrives as Vandoorne prepares to shift his focus toward a full-time return to the Formula E championship with Jaguar TCS Racing for the 2026/27 season. His impending switch to Jaguar has been widely anticipated within the paddock, though the decision to truncate his final endurance commitments with Peugeot alters the team's immediate operational landscape. Peugeot administration communicated the sudden driver change to the media on Saturday morning at Fuji Speedway, confirming the closure of a multi-year chapter for the former Formula 1 competitor.
While the manufacturer has yet to formally name a replacement driver for the remaining two rounds on the 2026 calendar, reserve driver Alex Quinn is widely expected to step into the vacancy. Such a move would grant Quinn his maiden Hypercar race start next month at Barcelona. Furthermore, Quinn appears positioned as a strong candidate for a permanent seat within the Peugeot roster for the 2027 season, having recently participated in a demanding endurance test alongside the French marque at Portimao.
Quinn is far from the only name featured in Peugeot's ongoing driver market recalibration as the team looks toward the future. Robert Shwartzman was previously confirmed earlier this month as a fresh addition to the manufacturer's stable. Meanwhile, Vandoorne's exit aligns with a broader transformation of the driver lineup, as current teammates Malthe Jakobsen and Theo Pourchaire are also set to depart the Hypercar project at the conclusion of the current championship year.
Departing alongside Vandoorne, Jakobsen is slated for a move to McLaren, while Pourchaire will step away from his current endurance duties to concentrate fully on his Formula E commitments with sister brand Opel. This upcoming Opel squad will also house Mitch Evans, whose seat at Jaguar is precisely the position Vandoorne is slated to inherit. The interconnected nature of these manufacturer-backed programs continues to drive considerable movement across both the endurance and electric single-seater grids.
The unfolding situation at Peugeot mirrors a similar moment of uncertainty from the previous season. Vandoorne had similarly bid farewell to the manufacturer following the Fuji round last year amid strong paddock expectations that he would migrate to Genesis Magma Racing. When those discussions ultimately broke down and failed to produce a concrete agreement, the Belgian driver was swiftly recalled to the Hypercar lineup for the 2026 campaign.
With his tenure at Peugeot now definitively concluded on the eve of the Fuji endurance race, attention turns to how the squad will manage its remaining entries and how quickly reserve talent can be integrated. The final rounds in Spain and Italy will now serve as an early developmental testing ground for the manufacturer's 2027 configuration, as the technical crew and engineering staff adapt to a significantly altered driver roster ahead of the winter break.