Peugeot took the 9X8 to the Le Castellet circuit, bringing together a large part of the team which will take part in the WEC endurance championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The argus was there, with the pilots and the engineers, to show you behind the scenes and the progress of the project.
Le Castellet circuit, on a winter morning. The sun shines silently. Beneath the surface of an apparent sea of tranquillity, without outbursts of voice, one activates in the box with speed and precision. Technicians, engineers and directors revolve around a partially stripped-down car in a choreographed circle that takes them from the racing machine to the control devices, to the boxes of tools and spare parts, to the car, and so on. following. For two days now, Peugeot has been submitting the 9X8 to its first durability tests.
With it, the manufacturer with the lion will make its return to the WEC world endurance championship, and at the same time to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The question is whether the brand’s next participation in the Sarthoise event will take place in 2022 or 2023. This is precisely one of the challenges of these tests on the Var track. Once homologated, the 9X8 will have to retain its characteristics until 2025. Observing more closely the exchange of glances in this stand, the excitement is palpable.
A racing car with a strong personality
The information has been analyzed, some settings modified, some parts replaced and repairs carried out; the Peugeot 9X8 is ready to hit the track again. Now dressed, it has the look of a lion ready to pounce that its designers have given it. Triple luminous claw at the four corners, forward cockpit, angular wings, long roof air intake evoking a mane, and elongated stern at ground level devoid of transverse fin undeniably give it a unique “mouth”. The show is important. And we find ourselves dreaming that the rivals of the 9X8, not yet unveiled, all display such a neat appearance.
The Scottish Paul di Resta, crowned DTM champion in 2010 and endurance driver since 2018, settles on board. He is one of the seven drivers of the Peugeot Sport team in the WEC. The car snorts and, after a few stalls (hot starts still require a bit of fine-tuning, we are told), sets off again for a few laps. The 680 hp mid-rear V6 is full-bodied, unremarkable at high revs, but its growl with each upshift of the seven-speed sequential gearbox gives it character. The 272 hp front electric motor does not emit the usual hiss of electric racing cars. The purpose of these sessions is to put the various components of the hybrid hypercar to the test, to break what can break, and to note everything that can be improved to make the car more reliable for a future session. The hunt for the lap record is, officially, not on the program. But against the clock, the 9X8 is already showing promise, setting times close to those of the 2021 LMP2s while its development is far from over. The absence of a rear wing does not therefore seem to be a handicap here.
The impressions of the pilots
While di Resta is filming, Kevin Magnussen shares his impressions with us. The Dane, who raced in F1 from 2014 to 2020 before joining Cadillac in endurance in the United States, is also part of the Peugeot team. In 2021, he took part in his first 24 Hours of Le Mans aboard an Oreca-Gibson LMP2 from the High Class Racing team, alongside his father Jan Magnussen. ” I find at Peugeot a working atmosphere very similar to that of F1. Everything is very open, and the feedback from the drivers has a big influence on the design of the car, whereas in LMP2, it’s mainly about settings. We feel that the 9X8 is heavier but it is balanced “, he develops. The classic Le Mans has a double symbolic importance for him. ” Tom Kristensen (Danish 9 times winner at Le Mans, editor’s note) made this race popular in Denmark, and my father has taken part in it more than twenty times! I might face him next time “, he underlines. At Peugeot, Kevin Magnussen notably teamed up with his compatriot Mikkel Jensen.
“Drivers’ feedback has a big influence on the design of the car.”
The American Gustavo Menezes is also in the game. This young prodigy arrived at the highest level in 2016, within the Alpine-Signatech endurance team, winning with his teammates the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the WEC championship in the LMP2 category for his first season. Like Magnussen, Menezes finds that the overweight of the Hypercars, imposed by the regulations, is clearly felt at the wheel compared to the 100 kg lighter LMP2s. But both seem to appreciate the behavior of the car, not tricky despite its unusual aerodynamic configuration according to them, and also agree on the design ” cool of the 9X8. The Californian recently moved to this side of the Atlantic, among other things to work more effectively with Peugeot.
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Loïc Duval returns to battle with Peugeot
Two French pilots are also part of the project: Jean-Eric Vergne and Loïc Duval. The latter, present at Le Castellet, reunited with Peugeot ten years after having contributed to the 908 adventure like certain engineers he reunited with today. ” The car is well born. I’m impressed, I didn’t expect this “, he confides to us at the end of his stint on the track, without forgetting that there is still work to be done. ” It was a very good practice session, which takes us on the right path he says.
Duval was part of the winning crew at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013 with Audi, the manufacturer for which he drove for several years. The working atmosphere at Peugeot changes from that of the brand with the rings according to him. ” These are clearly two different approaches. They are also two different eras. At Audi the budget seemed limitless, like the size of the team. After three years, I still sometimes didn’t know the names of some people I worked with. Already at the time of the 908 we saw that Audi’s budget was enormous but on the sporting level we were close, we had the capacity to be competitive and this heritage lives on at Peugeot Sport. I find this combination which seems ideal to me, that of having all the power of a manufacturer with a tighter team. At Peugeot, it’s like a commando. We go into battle with a small army in which everyone knows each other “, he evokes. And to emphasize that these few days at Le Castellet also serve to unite the team by bringing it together almost in full for the first time.
“At Peugeot, it’s like a commando. We go into battle with a small army in which everyone knows each other.”
When is Le Mans?
The tests in progress serve as much to confirm the performances obtained by computer simulation, in particular with regard to aerodynamics, as to reach the level of reliability required to enter the WEC. A participation in the championship in 2022 is planned but at least one more test session must be conducted before Peugeot decides on the date of its return to Le Mans. The next 24 Hours will be held on June 11 and 12, 2022. The deadlines seem short to allow Peugeot to homologate a high-performance and reliable car for four years, even if a surprise cannot be ruled out. The suspense will end with the announcement of the entry list, expected for the end of February or the beginning of March.
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