Nico Muller will split with Peugeot at the end of the 2024 World Endurance Championship, the French manufacturer announced on Thursday.
Muller has been racing for Peugeot in the Hypercar class ever since his early exit from Audi at the conclusion of the 2022 DTM season, which followed the German car maker’s decision to call off its under-development LMDh programme.
Following his departure from Audi, the Swiss driver made an earlier-than-expected debut in the Peugeot 9X8 in the 2022 Bahrain finale as a replacement for the retired James Rossiter, before joining the team for the full year in 2023 with team-mates Loic Duval and Gustavo Menezes.
He was moved to the sister #93 car in 2024 alongside Jean-Eric Vergne and Mikkel Jensen and was on course for a maiden podium finish in the Qatar season-opener, before the car slowed down with a few minutes to run after running out of fuel.
With the car later disqualified from the Losail round for a double breach of regulations, a fourth-place finish in the 2022 Bahrain event remains his best outright result in the WEC.
“It has been a wild ride @nico_mueller and it isn’t over just yet,” Peugeot announced on social media site X (formerly Twitter).
“But at the end of the season, our favorite Swiss driver will leave Team Peugeot TotalEnergies to write a new chapter of his racing journey.
“Danke, grazie, merci Nico for the hard work and good vibes!!”
Nico Muller, ABT CUPRA Formula E Team, on the grid
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
The news about Muller leaving Peugeot follows his announcement that he will also be leaving Abt in Formula E after this weekend’s London finale, just as the German team begins a new tie-up with Lola Cars and Yamaha.
The 32-year-old has been tipped to move to Porsche customer Andretti in the all-electric championship next year, although it remains unclear how that would affect his future in WEC.
Muller previously enjoyed a long relationship with fellow Volkswagen Group marque Audi that saw him win multiple races in the DTM and score an outright win in the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2015.
As for Peugeot, the French marque has the option of promoting reserve driver Malthe Jakobsen or hiring a driver from outside the Stellantis roster.
Jakobsen, who has tested the 9X8 at a number of occasions, has been competing in the European Le Mans Series with Cool Racing this year and won the season-opening race in Barcelona along with team-mates Ritomo Miyata and Lorenzo Fluxa.