Outgoing Peugeot World Endurance Championship driver Nico Muller has aspirations to continue his sportscar career after joining Porsche for a Formula E campaign with Andretti.
Muller stressed that his focus later this year would be his drive with the Andretti Porsche customer team in FE, but he has outlined a desire to race in the WEC or to pursue other sportscar opportunities with the German manufacturer, which has signed him as a factory driver.
“I would love to keep doing both,” said Muller at the Austin WEC round last weekend while on duty for Peugeot.
“The focus will be FE, that's the first programme I'm committed to. But if there is any sort of chance to stay here and do WEC in Hypercar, that would be the dream scenario. The door is open to do other stuff besides FE.”
Muller, who joined Peugeot’s WEC squad for the final race of the 2022 season, insisted that discussions about a wider programme with Porsche had yet to take place.
“We haven’t talked about what the options are and how we are going to proceed,” he explained.
Porsche hinted that Muller could have a wider role above and beyond FE when it announced his signing and programme with Andretti in July.
“We will announce at a later date whether and in which other series Nico will also drive for Porsche,” said Porsche Motorsport boss, Thomas Laudenbach.
A full programme in WEC with the factory Penske Porsche Motorsport squad appears unlikely.
For 2023, Porsche required Antonio Felix da Costa to give up his long-standing sportscar programme with Jota to focus on his FE assault with the factory team.
There also remains one date conflict between the FE and WEC calendars - the Berlin FE round clashes with Interlagos in the WEC on 12-13 July.
A one-off at the Le Mans 24 Hours could be a possibility for Muller if Porsche decides to run a third factory 963 LMDh at the French enduro for the third consecutive season.
“If you are asked to go back to Le Mans, you will say yes,” he said. “That is top of the list.”
Outings with the privateer Proton team in the Hypercar class could be another option.
Muller also revealed a desire to expand his experience of the IMSA SportsCar Championship in North America, in which his only previous start came in LMP2 at the 2022 Daytona 24 Hours with the High Class Racing squad.
“IMSA has a lot of old-school tracks and is something I’d love to discover a bit more,” he said.
“There are similarities with FE because you are discussing a lot less about putting four wheels on the other side of white lines [because there is generally less run-off than at the Formula 1 tracks visited by WEC].”
Racing Porsche’s 911 GT3-R is “also definitely an option”, according to a driver who enjoyed success at the wheel of GT3 machinery during his nine-year stint with Audi.
His credits in GT racing with Audi include victory in the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2015 as well as a pair of podiums and a further two top-six finishes in the Spa 24 Hours.
The Nurburgring race clashes with the Jakarta FE round next year, but Muller would be free to do Spa, the blue-riband round of the GT World Challenge Europe.
Muller also revealed that racing in the Supercars touring car series in Australia was on his bucket list.
“I would love to go down to Australia and try one of those Supercars,” he said.
“I definitely hope to do some cool stuff besides FE next year.”
