Felipe Drugovich is set to race for Cadillac at the Le Mans 24 Hours World Endurance Championship round in June.
Cadillac Racing has announced that 2022 FIA Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich is set to co-drive the #311 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R at the 92nd Le Mans 24 Hours in June alongside Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken.
The Brazilian, who currently serves as Aston Martin F1 team’s test and reserve driver, will be making his Le Mans debut with Cadillac alongside running an ELMS campaign in LMP2 with Vector Sport.
Drugovich had been linked to the seat ever since he drove the Cadillac LMDh car at a test with AXR at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca after venturing into sports car racing this year following a successful junior single seater career.
“I am only 23 years old, and I am having the most important opportunity in my racing car career until now thanks to Action Express and Cadillac,” Drugovich who is a two-time winner of the Le Mans Virtual Esports event said.
“The 24 Hours of Le Mans is impossible to define in words, such is its magic and importance for cars in general and motor racing in particular.
“I am having the opportunity to live this 100 years history for the first time with AXR and Cadillac.
“I barely touched the magic of Le Mans twice winning the virtual editions – now I am going to plunge into it for real. What a privilege having another dream come true.”
The 23-year old claimed eight victories and five pole starts in 73 Formula 2 starts in 2020-2022, securing the championship with five victories, four poles and 11 podiums. He earned a record 14 victories in 16 races in winning the 2018 Euroformula Open Championship and was also the 2017-18 MRF Challenge Formula 2000 champion with 10 wins in 16 races.
Drugovich joined Vector Sport’s LMP2 squad in the European Le Mans Series earlier this year after serving as Aston Martin’s reserve for a year. He finished in tenth place on two occasions – at Paul Ricard and Barcelona.
“Felipe has been on our radar for a couple of years,” said Action Express Racing team manager Gary Nelson. “After watching him race a sports car in the ELMS recently, we finally got a chance to meet him and work with him in some simulator testing.
“We were impressed by his maturity, discipline and knowledge. Next, we took Felipe to a track test, where he shared our car with Pipo and Jack.
“We are very excited to take the next obvious step and enter Felipe alongside Pipo and Jack at Le Mans. His record speaks volumes.”
Drugovich replaces Tom Blomqvist who serves as Action Express team’s IMSA series driver and features in long-distance endurance races at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis, and Road Atlanta. The latter is understood to be focusing on his NTT IndyCar Series commitments in the month of June.
Drugovich’s announcement to join AXR comes after Vector announced on Monday that it had signed Porsche factory driver Patrick Pilet in its Le Mans roster to drive alongside Ryan Cullen and Stephane Richelmi.
Team principal Gary Holland told Dailysportscar last week that he is excited to have Pilet on board for the biggest race of the year.
“For the past three years we’ve been in touch with Patrick about working with us on various programmes, but it never reached the finish line previously for one reason or another,” said Holland. “He’s got a lot of experience, and ticks a lot of boxes.
“He’s done GTs at a high level as a Porsche factory driver and was part of the conversation when we were putting together a Hypercar programme. As we stand it’s a one off, but never say never.
“As for Felipe, there was always the potential (for him to join Cadillac for the race) from day one. We are really happy for him. It’s good for him and it’s good for us because of his experience in the LMP2 with the Le Mans configuration. It’s plug and play.”
