This year’s WEC Rookie Test will take place at the Bahrain International Circuit on Sunday 19 November. Teams have a five-hour time slot during which they can give young drivers a chance to try out their LMP or GT cars.

As previously announced, Thomas Laurent (Jackie Chan DC Racing) will cover at least 30 laps in the cockpit of the #7 Toyota T050 HYBRID (LMP1). Toyota Gazoo Racing works driver, Mike Conway will be on hand to guide the winner of this year’s LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Other Rookie Test drivers include the top three in the overall rankings of the World Series Formula V8 3.5, the results of which will only be known after the season-ender at Bahrain on 18 November. Depending on where they finish on the podium, they will test, in order, the Porsche 919 Hybrid, the car that wins the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 teams (either the #38 Oreca 07-Gibson from Jackie Chan DC Racing, the #31 Vaillante Rebellion or the Signatech Alpine Matmut #36 Alpine A470-Gibson), and the car fielded by the winners of the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Pro teams (AF Corse, Porsche GT Team and Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team UK are all still in with a chance).

There will also be some new faces such as Mahaveer Raghunathan (in the #26 Oreca 07 – Gibson, G-Drive Racing) from India, Russian driver Konstantin Tereschenko (in the #28 Oreca 07 - Gibson, TDS Racing) who comes from the World Series Formula V8 3.5, and Frenchman Gabriel Aubry (#36 Alpine A470, Signatech Alpine Matmut), who competed in the Formula Renault 2.0 this season. In LMGTE Pro, AF Corse will play host to Japanese driver Ishikawa Motoaki at the wheel of the Ferrari 488 GTE. He will be supervised by Olivier Beretta, who has more than 20 Le Mans 24 Hours appearances to his name. 

More drivers will be announced at a later date. 

Information from the WEC press release

Photo: Thomas Laurent will be at the wheel of the #7 Toyota T050 HYBRID at the Bahrain Rookie Test.