New Porsche talent Ye in push for 2023

New Porsche recruit Yifei Ye will make his race debut with the German manufacturer in next month’s Asian Le Mans Series ahead of a return to the LMP2 class in which he starred in his maiden season of sportscar racing in 2021.

The 21-year-old, who was named as a Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific selected driver in November, will contest the two-weekend, four-race Asian series, which he won last year with G-drive Racing, at the wheel of a Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3-R (pictured). That will be a precursor to a P2 assault on either the

World Endurance Championship or the European Le Mans Series in which he scored his second title success of 2021 with WRT.

Ye’s programme for the season is being devised to give him the chance to impress the hierarchy at Porsche racing headquarters in Weissach and land a seat in one of the LMDH prototypes that will begin racing in the World Endurance Championship and IMSA Sportscar Championship in 2023.

“It is going to be a diverse programme for Yifei in 2022 – we believe a mix of GT and prototype racing will be good preparation for LMDH,” said Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific boss Alexandre Gibot. “Racing in the Asian series is a great first step to integrate Yifei into the Porsche family.

“But clearly the best preparation for LMDH is to race in LMP2. There is potentially a door open for Yifei in the LMDH programme and we have to give him the best environment to be able to show his level of performance.”

Gibot explained that no final decision had been made on Ye’s P2 programme for the coming season, despite a test outing for the Swiss Cool Racing ELMS team late last year.

Ye will race in the mid-february Asian series with Klaus Bachler and Antares Au in Dubai and then Yas Marina.