The 2025 World Sportscar Championship season starts this weekend and the Peugeot TotalEnergies factory driver from Thy is ready for the start in car number 94.
A lot of water has flowed through the Limfjord since Malthe Jakobsen’s first laps in a go-kart were completed at Thy Karting Centre. This week, almost ten years of determined effort will culminate when the 21-year-old from Thy makes his debut at the top of international motorsport.
As a factory driver for Peugeot TotalEnergies in the FIA World Endurance Championship, the original goal has been achieved for the racing driver from Sennels, and now the next chapter as a professional racing driver at the very highest level awaits.
This past weekend, the prologue for the 2025 season was held with several hours of intensive testing of this year’s speed weapon. Malthe Jakobsen also had several good test sessions in the car, which is now being prepared for this weekend’s 1812 kilometre race in the desert state of Qatar.
And the protagonist is looking forward to his upcoming debut:
– “I can’t hide the fact that I’m really looking forward to this race. This is what my family, my community and I have been working for for so many years, and now here we are. It’s my job and I approach it like any other race weekend, but I definitely have butterflies in my stomach this time,” says Malthe Jakobsen about the season premiere.
Even though there are several days break before the official training sessions start on the track, the young Thybo resident doesn’t have much time to feel the butterflies fluttering:
– “It’s pretty much a full-time job, especially a week like this. The days are taken up with internal meetings and preparations, and in addition there are various events we have to attend in the evenings. There’s just a little more to do than I’m used to,” says Malthe Jakobsen, who also has to get used to being back in the role of “beginner” in the team after a couple of seasons as the expert in the LMP3 and LMP2 classes:
– “Even though I’ve become a factory driver, I’m suddenly the least experienced person in the team and it honestly takes some getting used to not being the one with all the experience and making the decisions. But that’s the way it should be, and I’m soaking up all the knowledge and experience I can possibly get away with,” says Malthe Jakobsen.
How to watch the FIA World Endurance Championship from Qatar
When the first FIA WEC race weekend gets underway in earnest, Malthe Jakobsen will compete in the Hypercar class with his two team-mates, Loïc Duval and Stoffel Vandoorne, in the Peugeot 9X8 with number 94 on the side.
All races in this year’s FIA WEC season will be shown live on TV2 Sport X, TV2 Play, Eurosport and through the FIA WEC TV app.
Schedule for the FIA World Endurance Championship Qatar 1812 km
Wednesday 26 February
09.30 – Free Practice 1
14.50 – Free Practice 2
Thursday 27 February
10.00 – Free Practice 3
15.40 – Qualifying – Hypercar
16.00 – Hyperpole – Hypercar
Friday 28 February
12.00 – Race (10 hours)