Meet the 2024 Rookies - Part 1: Hypercar
A bumper crop of 26 WEC rookies will take to the track at the Qatar Airways Qatar 1812km this weekend. Below is what you need to know about them in our special ‘meet the rookies’ feature/.
Part 2 (LMGT3) will follow soon...
Antonio Serravalle
Team: Isotta Fraschini
Nat: Canadian
Age: 21
Former IndyLights and IMSA LMP3 driver, Serravalle sat out most of 2023 before joining the new Isotta Fraschini Hypercar effort for the 2024 season where he joins Jean-Karl Vernay and Carl Bennett.
Carl Bennett
Team: Isotta Fraschini
Nat: American
Age: 19
Teenager Bennett has predominantly raced in the F4 single-seater series in Brazilian, U.S and Spanish championships.
This winter he also campaigned in the Asian Le Mans Series for the Duqueine Racing team, the same squad this operationally running the Isotta Fraschini effort in the 2024 WEC.
Marco Wittmann
Team: BMW M Team WRT
Nat: German
Age: 34
Wittmann is a highly decorated professional driver, well-known on the international scene having been crowned DTM champion in 2014 and 2016.
The German, who has been a factory BMW driver since 2013, has also raced in IMSA, most recently with the BMW M Team Rahal squad at Sebring, Daytona and Petit Le Mans last season with the BMW M Hybrid V8.
Raffaele Marciello
Team: BMW M Team WRT
Nat: Swiss/Italian
Age: 29
Marciello is acknowledged as one of the biggest talents in international motorsport having represented Mercedes-Benz in GT3 racing since 2018.
He was FIA F3 champion in 2013 and was close to driving in F1 but was forced to switch to endurance racing where he has won the FIA GT World Cup twice, GT World Challenge Europe and ADAC GT Masters series.
For 2024 he joins Marco Wittmann and Dries Vanthoor in the No.15 BMW M Team WRT Hypercar entry.
Sheldon van der Linde
Team: BMW M Team WRT
Nat: South African
Age: 24
Brother of Akkodis ASP Lexus driver and fellow WEC rookie Kelvin, Sheldon van der Linde was crowned the 2022 DTM champion.
He has also raced in the Daytona and Sebring sportscar classics for BMW, and also has strong experience in many GT3 series in Europe.
Mick Schumacher
Team: Alpine Endurance Team
Nat: German
Age: 24
Son of F1 legend and one of the greatest drivers ever to compete, Michael Schumacher, Mick comes to WEC after racing and testing in F1 since 2020.
He won the F3 and F2 crowns in 2018 and 2020 respectively before making his Grand Prix debut for the Haas team in 2021.
For 2024 Mick joins the ambitious Alpine Endurance Team alongside Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere.
Edoardo Mortara
Team: Lamborghini Iron Lynx
Nat: Swiss/Italian
Age: 37
Mortara made Macau his own for several seasons taking an incredible 10 wins at the challenging street circuit between 2008 to 2017.
He raced in the DTM between 2011 and 2018, finishing runner-up in 2016 for the Audi Abt team.
The Swiss/Italian has recently raced in Formula E for Venturi and Mahindra and now comes to WEC with the Lamborghini Iron Lynx team with their all-new SC63 Hypercar.
Robert Shwartzman
Team: AF Corse
Nat: Israeli
Age: 24
Shwartzman developed a strong reputation on the junior single-seater scene, winning the 2019 F3 title before winning six F2 races in 2020 and 2021.
He has been a long-time Ferrari supported driver and has tested for the F1 team on several occasions. He started competing in endurance races in GT World Challenge Europe last season and now joins Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye in the No.83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P entry for 2024.
