Reigning Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire will get his first run in a sportscar prototype when he joins Peugeot for the World Endurance Championship’s Bahrain rookie test next month.

Pourchaire is one of the two drivers to be selected by the French manufacturer to drive the 9X8 2024 LMH at the Bahrain International Circuit on 3 November, along with his former F2 rival Clement Novalak.

Pourchaire had previously revealed his ambition to race in the WEC, telling Autosport that he “watches almost every race” and that the Le Mans 24 Hours is an event that he “would like to do one day”.

However, there will be no immediate opportunities available at Peugeot’s Hypercar squad, which has already locked in its line-up for 2025 after promoting Malthe Jakobsen to replace new Porsche factory driver Nico Muller.

“For Team Peugeot TotalEnergies, these Rookie Tests in Bahrain bring a fresh perspective, even though reconditioning the cars after the race requires a lot of work from the entire team,” said Peugeot technical director Olivier Jansonnie.

“It is always very motivating and rewarding to see young drivers arrive with wide eyes, discovering the team, the car, etc.”

“We selected two different profiles. Theo is single-seater-oriented with an already impressive track record and is recognised as one of the single-seater hopefuls.

“Clement has more endurance experience with notable results in ELMS, particularly a second place in LMP2 at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans. His statistics in this discipline impressed us. I think it’s an interesting combination.

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller, Jean-Eric Vergne

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

“They will be guided by Paul di Resta and Malthe Jakobsen, who also went through this process before being appointed full-time next season. It is always very interesting for us to get technical feedback from fresh perspectives.”

Pourchaire is still searching for a drive next year after admitting recently that he doesn’t have a “lot of money to put on the table”.

The Frenchman started the season in the Super Formula series with Team Impul, but ended up splitting with the squad after just one round when an opportunity came to enter IndyCar with Arrow McLaren.

However, his relationship with Arrow McLaren in IndyCar also turned out to be short-lived, as the team replaced him with Indy NXT graduate Nolan Siegel at around the mid-way point of the year. Pourchaire returned to the outfit for a one-off appearance at Toronto in place of Alexander Rossi, but has been out of action since then.

Novalak, who previously raced against Pourchaire in F2, also left the category after 2023 in favour of a new career in sportscar racing.

Competing for InterEuropol Competition in an ORECA-Gibson 07, he finished on the podium in the recent European Le Mans Series event at Portimao. A maiden outing at Le Mans yielded a second-place finish in the LMP2 class.

FABIAN HURZELER is equally as comfortable discussing Picasso and pressing — although he has a clear preference.

The Brighton boss was once sacked as an art dealer for being too obsessed with football, the sort of dedication which has turned him into a groundbreaking coach.

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You may have heard he is quite young, a fact he is constantly reminded of.

But despite being 31, the decision to end his playing career and start coaching at 23 means he already possesses bags of experience.

Hurzeler has been coaching as long as Mikel Arteta, 11 years his senior.

Although the Arsenal manager never had to flog art on the side to keep things going as Hurzeler did when in charge of fifth-tier FC Pipinsried in his first role as a coach.

He said: “Life in Munich is expensive, like in London. When I sold one picture or one painting in a month, it was like I was done so I could focus more during this time and watch a lot of football games during this time during my work.

“That was also the reason why I got fired. The owner, she was very polite but one day she recognised that I’m watching more football during work instead of really working because we weren’t selling any paintings any more. Then I got fired.”

Hurzeler got the job in the first place through friend Roman Plesche, a sports-science student who worked in the gallery.

Plesche, who would later be Hurzeler’s sporting director in his first post as a head coach, recalled: “I told the boss that my best friend speaks good English and can also sell.

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“He had a very good feel for art, he knew how to inspire customers.

“We sold an Andy Warhol together. But I think football is better for him than art.”

Hurzeler has already enjoyed more than the 15 minutes of fame that Warhol talked about.

The German talks a lot about the work ethic his parents instilled in him.

But those values also gave him the confidence to end a playing career which had seen him as a young talent in the Bayern Munich academy.

His family were still taken aback at the decision, explaining: “Of course they were surprised. I always say, it’s my life and it’s a choice I make. I take responsibility for that.

“No one else will take responsibility for my life. It’s something I always try to follow. I have to feel happy with the situation.

“A lot of people don’t understand it and because they said I could easily play, maybe in second or third division.

“But they will never understand the feeling inside of me, what I really want to achieve in life, my vision in life.”

Family values and vision is something Hurzeler comes back to a lot over an hour chatting at Brighton’s Sussex base.

One of four siblings, born to two dentists in Texas before moving to Germany at the age of two, all of them have a fierce competitive streak.

The Seagulls boss already has one yellow and one red card for his touchline antics this season and knows that competitive edge can get the better of him, in a football game or even playing Uno or Catan at Christmas.

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He said: “Honestly, when you talk to some guys who I played against, they would say, ‘What an a*******’.

“When we were on the pitch, it was like winning, winning, winning. And that’s the same, honestly, with my family.

“When I’m with my family, let’s say at Christmas and we played games and I lost the game, the night was over for me.

“We are all made of the same blood, so my sisters and brothers and also my father, when they lose, they were the same. That’s how I grew up, it was a competition all the time.”

The desire to compete now extends to the padel court with Hurzeler — like almost everyone in football — having become a huge fan of the sport.

He is now campaigning for a court to be built at the Brighton training ground. Those luxuries are a far cry from his start as a coach, with FC Pipinsried eight years ago.

There was a fast start, promotion to the fourth tier in his first season but then the tests arrived.

Losing the first seven games of the new term taught Hurzeler he must be able to adapt.

He has always wanted to control a game through possession and with a high line but never just for the sake of it.

Hurzeler added: “I had a good start in my career. We went from the fifth league to the fourth in the first year.

“But we started by losing the first seven games. I was sitting in a  coffee shop and the media called and said, ‘Do you think if you lose the next game, then you’ll still be the coach or not?’ Then I was like, ‘OK, that’s the business’.”

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There has been adapting to do in the Premier League too.

Not even a year ago, Hurzeler was touring English clubs, watching Brighton as well as visiting Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham to try to learn from their experiences.

But that only went so far in preparing him for the Prem, admitting: “I didn’t expect it to be this intense and this demanding.

“Every team in this league, also the teams who were promoted like Ipswich, they have individual quality in their team to win games.

“Then during the game, it’s so fascinating for me… that’s what I learned, you have to work hard for the momentum.

“When you have momentum, you have to use it, otherwise the other team will take it.”

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The final match before the international break was a perfect demonstration of this.

Hurzeler said little at half-time, deciding not to go in all guns blazing and it paid off — coming from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham 3-2.

He said: “Football is crazy sometimes.”

For all the questions over his age, that calm approach after a rotten first half showcased the benefit. Few other managers will have such a keen understanding of their squad’s mindset.

Asked what the biggest advantage of being a young manager is, he said: “Speaking the language of the players.

“I’m their age, so we have the same needs. We are in the same situations. Maybe we lose a girlfriend. Maybe you experience the same things, you have a similar sense of humour.”

Who are these famous footballers?

F1 drivers have voiced differing opinions on the series getting rid of the extra point for achieving the fastest lap.

On Thursday ahead of the USGP, the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council announced various tweaks to F1’s regulations, with the bonus point for the fastest lap disappearing from 2025 onwards.

The rule to award the fastest race lap by a driver from the top 10 was introduced in 2019 to add an extra element to the spectacle, and give drivers in lower points positions an added incentive to push for a fastest lap near the end of the race.

But the rule change rarely had its desired effect, with the point often decided by the race circumstances rather than outright speed. The majority of the drivers who were quizzed about the change were therefore not particularly sad to see it go.

“I always was of the opinion that it was a not needed, mainly because of how it is achieved,” said Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. “Right now, that point goes to the one that has a free pitstop one lap to the end of the race. So, it’s not showing who is the fastest guy in the race, and he deserves one point for being the fastest guy.

“Most of the time, it’s a point that goes to the guy that by chance or by luck or by race situation has a free pit stop at some point of the race.”

Mercedes’ George Russell wholeheartedly agreed with Sainz: “I always thought the point for fastest lap was a bit pointless because it would always be the driver who was having a tough race and would pit, put new tyres on and gain the extra point.

“I never really saw the benefit of that, so sort of glad to see that’s gone,” Russell added, with Sainz’s team-mate Charles Leclerc voicing a similar opinion.

Sergio Perez en route to a Fastest Lap at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Erik Junius

‘We are talking about 24 points a season’

Not every driver is on the same page, however, as Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez quite liked the added element to race day, especially the added pressure on drivers and teams to chase the fastest lap at the end of the race.

“I don’t really agree,” he said. “It gave a lot. There were races especially when the championship is pretty tight between teams and drivers, where that could really make a difference. We are talking about 24 points a season.

“I don’t know why it changed, I just felt like it was quite good. When you go for it, it is quite a lot of pressure for the mechanics to deliver the right stop, for you to deliver the right lap. I don’t think it was the best move.”

When asked if bonus points still have a future in F1, for example by rewarding the polesitter, Sainz was more enthused.

“Yeah, I agree. Pole position is something that, at least in Formula 1, is given a lot of value,” he said. “And obviously as drivers in qualifying, we like being the fastest because it shows you have maybe done the cleanest lap, you’ve maybe taken more risks… you’ve put everything on the line to go on pole.

“In a field where only one car is going to get all the pole positions, it makes less sense. But in the ideal scenario of a tight field, I think it could make more sense than the fastest lap of the race.”

England lost their eight remaining wickets before lunch on Friday morning to be dismissed for 144 in pursuit of 297.

Captain Ben Stokes stopped short of criticising the surface but said Pakistan winning the toss was a “massive” factor.

“They used the home conditions in their favour,” he said.

“If we had won the toss it could have been completely different and it would have looked like a silly decision.

“The toss was always going to be massive, me and Shan knew that.”

Despite the defeat, Stokes said England’s fourth-innings score was “pretty decent” on the surface.

England fell behind the game when they conceded a 75-run deficit after the first innings and then when Jamie Smith and Joe Root dropped Salman Ali Agha, who went on to make 63, in the space of three balls in the second innings when Pakistan’s lead was below 200.

Stokes was visibly frustrated on the field after the second missed chance, for which he said he has apologised to the team.

“It’s the first time in my captaincy that I’ve let my emotions about the game and how it was unfolding show with my body language,” Stokes told Sky Sports.

“I own up to that and I’m very annoyed with myself for letting that out. It’s something I don’t want to do or be seen to be doing so I apologised to the group.

“I was a tired, grumpy old man but you won’t see that again.”

Victory for Pakistan was their first at home since 2021 and their first under Masood in his seventh match as captain.

“That’s not acceptable for Pakistan cricket,” the batter said. “We pride ourselves on how well we play this game and how we see ourselves as a team.

“Hopefully we can start something here in home conditions.”