The Race understands that Porsche's Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein will get a race outing in one of the manufacturer's 963 Hypercars before his Le Mans 24 Hours debut - a tactic that has paid off for it previously.
A decade ago, Porsche decided to enter a third 919 Hybrid for Le Mans in addition to the two cars entered in the full World Endurance Championship for 2015. At the wheel were Earl Bamber, Nick Tandy and Nico Hulkenberg, who was also competing in his sixth Formula 1 season with Force India.
To prepare for that outing, Porsche decided to enter the car in the Spa 6 Hours at the beginning of May. In Belgium, the #19 919 Hybrid started from the front row before finishing sixth - mainly due to Tandy's collision with a GT car. A disappointing result? Perhaps, but the important thing was elsewhere.
"I take my hat off to the entire team - especially to the third crew and our three new drivers," said Porsche LMP1 vice president Fritz Enzinger that day. "They integrated themselves into the team very well and were competitive right from the start."
That race proved essential. The three drivers learned a lot: how to work with the team, how the car behaved in a pack, and how to manage traffic. A little over a month later, at the Le Mans 24 Hours, Tandy did not repeat the mistake that had cost him a podium finish in Belgium.
With Bamber and Hulkenberg also flawless, they clinched victory to everyone's surprise, confirming that their participation in the Spa 6 Hours had not been in vain.
At the time, the regulations were different, as were the budget restrictions. Porsche, Audi and Toyota all used to enter third cars in the Spa 6 Hours, which serves as a dress rehearsal for the Le Mans 24 Hours. It was in Belgium that Filipe Albuquerque, Oliver Jarvis, Marco Bonanomi and Rene Rast made their LMP1 debuts for Audi, as did Yuji Kunimoto for Toyota.
So, naturally, when we learned that Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet would be unable to take their places at Porsche Penske Motorsport in the Spa 6 Hours next month, due to a clash with the IMSA SportsCar Championship round at Laguna Seca, we wondered whether the decision would be made to put Wehrlein in one car.
He will be supporting Tandy and Felipe Nasr in the #4 963 at Le Mans and, although he has already raced the Daytona 24 Hours at the wheel of the 963, he has never raced for Porsche Penske Motorsport.
A few weeks ago, when we asked him about it, Wehrlein replied: "I could be at one of the races, but I'm not sure yet. Our Formula E schedule is super busy for the next couple of weeks.
"There might be some more testing or preparation in the simulator for sure. But I'll definitely be watching the races, so it's out of the question."
"We had an endurance test a couple of weeks ago [in Spa]," he added. "There might be some other testing, I'm not sure yet. But for sure the target is to prepare me as well as possible, which I think I am.
"Le Mans in the end is definitely different and there are a lot of specialities I need to experience and understand on the track and get a first taste in the simulator. But also the testing before the race actually starts is quite a lot. You definitely have time to adapt to the track. I will give it everything, as always."
Despite that coyness, The Race does now expect Wehrlein to be at the Spa 6 Hours in the #6 Porsche, alongside Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor. It would have been silly to pass up the opportunity, wouldn't it?
He won't be the only newcomer, either, as fellow Formula E driver Nico Mueller is expected to drive the #5 car alongside Julien Andlauer and Michael Christensen. Mueller is expected to take on the role of reserve driver at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
He previously stood in for an injured Estre during a test session at Spa - the one Wehrlein took part in - earlier this month.
This participation in the Spa 6 Hours is ultimately even more important than it was for Hulkenberg in 2015 because, at that time, testing was much less limited than it is today. Hulkenberg had therefore already clocked up a significant mileage at the wheel of the 919 Hybrid before heading to Le Mans.
To date, Wehrlein has only made three appearances behind the wheel of the 963. One with JDC-Miller MotorSports at the Daytona 24 Hours and two test outings with Porsche Penske Motorsport, the first in 2022 at Sebring and the second at Spa earlier this month.
Wehrlein has to fit his participation in the Spa 6 Hours into an extremely busy schedule, between two Formula E races in Monaco and Tokyo, but it will undoubtedly mark a crucial step in his preparation.
Although Nasr and Tandy won't be with Wehrlein, it will allow him to continue learning about the car, the team and the WEC sporting rules, which are still unfamiliar to him.
And when he gets there, we can bet that he will have in the back of his mind the feat achieved by Hulkenberg in 2015, with the secret hope of repeating history. A story that their common team-mate Tandy is also keen to relive 10 years later.
