The 31-year-old will take his ordinary place in Peugeot’s #94 9X8 line-up alongside Gustavo Menezes and Loic Duval within the eight-hour fixture on the Bahrain Worldwide Circuit on Saturday, having missed September’s Fuji occasion after injuring his left collarbone.
The precise nature and reason behind Muller’s damage was by no means revealed, with the Swiss driver solely stating that he had been suggested by the medical doctors to skip the Japan spherical of the championship to finish his restoration.
Muller has now been given the all-clear to participate within the Bahrain 8 Hours. This is able to be his first aggressive outing in any class since he sustained the damage in August, though he did participate within the Valencia Components E take a look at for Abt Cupra earlier this month.
Bahrain was the scene of Muller’s maiden outing with Peugeot in 2022, with the then-Audi manufacturing facility driver having been known as in to switch the retired James Rossiter forward of his full marketing campaign with the staff.
“I’m very excited to get again behind the wheel of the 9X8, to get again to work with the entire staff and go on the market and provides our greatest for this final race of the season,” stated Muller.
“Hopefully we are going to end with a superb one and I’m assured we are able to do a superb job. Clearly, it was not a straightforward season for us, however we now have proven some potential, some highlights right here and there and I hope that the final race of the season may be one as effectively.
“I am going to Bahrain with good reminiscences from my first official occasion with Peugeot final yr. We will additionally construct on that have so I’m simply going to go on the market, give all I’ve and hopefully one thing Positive will come out of it.”
Photograph by: Paolo Belletti
#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes, Nico Muller
Stoffel Vandoorne, who changed Muller within the Japan spherical of the championship and can transfer to a full-time race seat in 2024 rather than Menezes, will take to the monitor on Sunday for the post-season rookie take a look at.
He is likely one of the three drivers testing for Peugeot in Bahrain, with reserve Malthe Jakobsen and Mikkel Jensen, who’s a part of the #93 race crew, additionally in motion.
Peugeot goes to Bahrain following a troublesome race in Fuji the place its two vehicles completed down in seventh and eighth, undoing the progress the French producer had made on the earlier two rounds at Le Mans and Fuji.
Nevertheless, Peugeot Sport Technical director Olivier Jansonnie hopes his squad can finish the season with a robust end result.
“The Bahrain monitor is known for being arduous on the braking and tyres, particularly concerning the degradation with excessive monitor temperatures.
“Because of final yr’s race and the rookie take a look at, we have already got some expertise in addition to treasured knowledge that might be very helpful in tyre administration.
“This will likely be one of many challenges through the eight-hour race resulting in totally different methods for the groups, realizing that tyre allocation is a little bit bit higher than for a six-hour race.
“The circuit can also be very fascinating with technical sections and clean sequences. There are various stakes in temperature administration, an eight-hour race that brings extra difficulties when it comes to endurance and tyre administration will likely be crucial for us and our drivers.
“The purpose for this final spherical is to maintain each vehicles at a degree of reliability that enable them to have a constant race and to remain near the leaders to have the ability to make the most of the race alternatives that may result in a superb end result.”