Stoffel Vandoorne’s deal to leave Peugeot and join Hyundai’s Genesis Magma Racing World Endurance Championship project for 2026 has fallen through in a disagreement over Formula E and he will stay at Peugeot after all.
Genesis’ 2026 arrival, Ford and McLaren joining in 2027, and Porsche’s decision to bow out at the end of the current campaign have turned this WEC silly season into an outright circus. But few could have predicted Peugeot would be right at the centre of it all.
The day after the 2025 WEC finale, at the traditional rookie test on November 9, Peugeot will hand its 9X8 Hypercar to two new drivers in addition to its 2026 full-season signing Nick Cassidy.
One of those newcomers is 29-year-old Mathias Beche, a Le Mans 24 Hours veteran with 12 starts and a podium finish overall with Rebellion Racing in 2018. The other is 24-year-old Briton Alex Quinn, who’s been a standout in LMP2 since 2023 after a respectable junior single-seater career.
Yet neither Beche nor Quinn is expected to race the 9X8 in 2026. The real twist involves Vandoorne. Yes, that Vandoorne, the same driver Peugeot bid farewell to after the Fuji race last month.
The story behind his unexpected return is one of the strangest driver-market turns of the year. Here is what we know.
Why Vandoorne didn't end up with Genesis
As The Race previously reported, Vandoorne was supposed to leave Peugeot to join Genesis Magma Racing, which will debut its GMR-001 Hypercar in the WEC next year. But that deal has since fallen apart.
At the last moment, Vandoorne reportedly told team principal Cyril Abiteboul that he didn’t want to end his career in Formula E, where he became world champion with Mercedes in 2022.
Although he doesn’t have a full-time seat for the coming FE season, the former McLaren Formula 1 driver was announced yesterday as Jaguar’s reserve driver.
Abiteboul, however, has made it clear he doesn’t want to employ drivers who juggle WEC and Formula E. The two series don’t currently clash in 2026, but what about 2027? Not to mention the extra workload from testing and the arrival of Formula E’s Gen4 era.
So, the Genesis deal - signed or nearly so - was torn up at the eleventh hour.
Why Peugeot suddenly needs another driver
With Cassidy and Théo Pourchaire already confirmed to replace Mikkel Jensen (off to McLaren) and Vandoorne (supposedly to Genesis), Peugeot’s 2026 line-up appeared set. Paul di Resta, Loïc Duval, Malthe Jakobsen and Jean-Eric Vergne all looked locked in.
But after finishing second at Fuji, Vergne informed Peugeot Sport that he wanted to take a step back from full-time WEC competition in 2026.
It’s an understandable decision: the ex-Toro Rosso F1 driver will have plenty on his plate with Citroën’s Formula E programme, Gen4 development, and Peugeot’s 2027 Hypercar project that’s already in gestation.
The Race understands Stellantis has wisely agreed to accommodate Vergne’s request, even if that left Peugeot scrambling for a sixth driver to complete its 2026 roster.
Why Vandoorne is the perfect fit
There’s been no bad blood between Vandoorne and Peugeot Sport. And, by sheer coincidence, both found themselves in need: one looking for a seat after his Genesis deal collapsed, the other unexpectedly short of a driver for 2026.
It didn’t take long for the two sides to reconnect. The Race understands that barely a month after what was supposed to be his final Peugeot outing, Vandoorne is set to return to his ‘former’ team and will continue for a third consecutive season in 2026 behind the wheel of the 9X8.
The late twist doesn’t affect next month’s WEC finale Bahrain 8 Hours, however, where Vandoorne will still be replaced in the #94 9X8 by Pourchaire. The #93 entry will feature the familiar trio of Jensen, di Resta and Vergne.
