Stoffel Vandoorne quits Peugeot's 9X8 two races early for Formula E
Vandoorne called endurance racing his long-term future, then Formula E called him back
Stoffel Vandoorne leaves Peugeot's Hypercar team after this weekend's 6 Hours of Fuji, two rounds before the World Endurance Championship season ends. Peugeot confirms that the Belgian will not race the No. 93 9X8 at Barcelona or Monza. He is expected to return to Formula E full time with Jaguar for 2026/27, one year after the electric series left him without a race seat.
Peugeot's No. 93 9X8 races Barcelona and Monza without Vandoorne
Peugeot announced the change at Fuji on Saturday 26 September, in a short statement to the media, and has not yet named a replacement. Reserve driver Alex Quinn is the likely choice for Barcelona, which would be his Hypercar race debut. Vandoorne, 34, says the early exit is no surprise. "It was always planned this way," he said at Fuji, adding that he had known all season and was happy with his next step.
Jaguar's Formula E seat is free because Mitch Evans joined Opel
Jaguar TCS Racing has not announced the signing, but Motorsport.com and Sportscar365 both report that Vandoorne will take the seat of Mitch Evans, who signed for Opel's new works team in August. It is a promotion from inside the garage. Vandoorne has been Jaguar's reserve driver this season, after Maserati's Formula E team became Citroën Racing and replaced him. His return coincides with the new Gen4 car, the 815 hp generation that starts racing in 2026/27.
Vandoorne's 2024 plan put Formula E first and endurance racing later
Vandoorne said in January 2024 that he still had a few more years in Formula E and saw his long-term future in endurance racing, where three drivers share a car and careers last longer. He was stepping up to a full-time Peugeot seat at the time. The order then ran backwards: Formula E dropped him first, endurance racing became his only full-time drive this year, and now he is leaving it to go back.
The Peugeot 9X8 gave Vandoorne one podium in 18 Hypercar races
Vandoorne started 18 races for Peugeot before this weekend, and his only podium was third place in a rain-soaked race at the Circuit of the Americas in 2025. A year ago he described the team as well run and short of one thing, car performance. The 9X8 has never won a World Endurance Championship race since its 2022 debut. His record elsewhere in the championship is stronger: third overall at Le Mans in 2019 with SMP Racing, and runner-up in the 2021 LMP2 standings with Jota after five podiums in six races.
Pourchaire and Jakobsen also leave Peugeot's Hypercar line-up
Vandoorne is one of three current Peugeot drivers not expected back in 2027. Malthe Jakobsen is heading to McLaren's new Hypercar programme, and Théo Pourchaire steps back to race in Formula E for sister brand Opel, next to Evans. The two moves are linked. Pourchaire made his Peugeot race debut in Bahrain last year in Vandoorne's place, when the Belgian was expected to join Genesis. That deal collapsed, and Peugeot re-signed him in November 2025.
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Vandoorne is going back to the series where his record is strongest, and it is the right call. He won the 2021-22 Formula E title with Mercedes on 213 points, with a single race win in Monaco and consistency everywhere else. In the Hypercar class he has one podium in 18 starts, in a car that has never won. A works seat at the team Evans took to this year's final round is worth more than two farewell races in a 9X8.
His 2024 plan still holds, just in the opposite order. Endurance racing rewards experience and keeps drivers competitive into their late thirties, so a Hypercar return later in the decade stays open. For now, Jaguar and the Gen4 car should put him on a Formula E podium within his first six races of 2026/27, and a second title is not beyond a driver who won the first one by being the most consistent man on the grid.
