Four-time F1 Champion Sebastian Vettel to Test Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar for Le Mans

Sebastien Vettel is getting back in a race car.

And, no, it's not a Formula 1 car. This time, the four-time F1 champion is preparing to be part of a Porsche Penske Motorsport 36-hour test of its Porsche 963 hypercar for Le Mans. The the will be held in the coming week at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain.

It will be Vettel's first time in a hypercar at speed, and the effort will undoubtedly fuel rumors that the 36-year-old driver is gearing up for a run at Le Mans in June. Vettel has spent time in the simulator to prepare for Aragón test, and he did turn a few laps in a rollout of the Porsche 963 at Porche's R&D Center in Weissach on Thursday.

He's downplaying any talk, however, that this is some sort of precursor to a Le Mans effort.

“I’m looking forward to testing the Porsche 963. I already got the chance to get a feel for the car during a rollout in Weissach,” Vettel said. "I’ve always followed other racing series and my curiosity for endurance events encouraged me to just give it a shot. Now I’m excited about the long run in Aragón and I’m looking forward to my time behind the wheel.

"It’ll definitely take an adjustment and some getting used to but everyone in the team is very open and helps me. This will be a new experience for me. We will then see what happens next in this respect—at the moment there are no further plans for the future.”

Porsche Penske races in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the World Endurance Championship. The organization won the IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona in January, and won the WEC opener at Qatar.

"We’re delighted that Sebastian Vettel is interested in our Porsche 963,” said Thomas Laudenbach, vice president Porsche Motorsport. “There was no question for us that we’d be thrilled to support his request for an opportunity to test and provide him with extensive preparation and plenty of time to drive our hybrid prototype—there’s no doubt we’ll learn a lot from his valuable feedback. Our 36-hour long run with Porsche Penske Motorsport and our works drivers at Motorland Aragón offers a perfect environment for this.”

Joining Vettel for the test are Porsche works drivers Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frédéric Makowiecki, Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor.

This year's 24 Hours of LeMans is set for June 15-16.