WEC’s French marques already have one eye on next season ahead of U.S. trip

For the two French manufacturers in Hypercar – Peugeot and Alpine – the final leg of the 2024 WEC season presents a significant opportunity. Both are looking to generate some positive momentum ahead of what looks to be a crucial off-season for their …

For the two French manufacturers in Hypercar – Peugeot and Alpine – the final leg of the 2024 WEC season presents a significant opportunity. Both are looking to generate some positive momentum ahead of what looks to be a crucial off-season for their programs.

There’s no doubt about it, it’s been a challenging season for both, but for different reasons. These are two programs at completely different stages, fighting to make their mark racing in what is by far the most competitive top class in WEC history.

Peugeot TotalEnergies appears to be under the most pressure. It is coming to the end of its second full campaign with the 9X8, and despite switching to its 2024-spec car at Imola, has regularly struggled to compete at the sharp end of the field.

The new-look challenger, with its shift in aerodynamic concept and tire sizes, made its debut at Imola after a highly encouraging but ultimately heartbreaking Swansong for the old car in Qatar. There, the No. 93 fought for victory before hitting trouble in the closing minutes.

At that time things were looking up, the start of the season was head-turning and the promise of a new and improved 9X8 was reason for optimism. However, since the switch, Peugeot’s fortunes haven’t changed and the results of its development work over the off-season have been mixed at best.

On one hand, the 9X8 is more reliable and the drivers feel it gives them more confidence behind the wheel – it’s a more predictable car to drive. On the other, the team has struggled to extract outright pace and find consistency over a full race distance. Through four races the new car has a best finish of eighth in Sao Paulo.

Back in May, Linda Jackson – Peugeot’s CEO – praised the marketing value and return on investment that the WEC presents, referencing a spike in road car sales before, during and after the centenary Le Mans 24 Hours in 2023. But the harsh reality is that programs like this one will not be signed off by board members indefinitely if the results aren’t there.

Expectations at Peugeot are sky-high for its Hypercar project, yet it has been winless since it joined the grid at the tail end of the 2022 season.

“For the fans, for us, for the return on investment, to be honest, we need to win something,” Jackson said. “It’s time to deliver. It’s a very important investment. And, we decided to focus on the WEC we are not present elsewhere. Now is the time.”

The 2024-spec car’s journey so far featured Le Mans, the most important race for the team due to its prestige and location. Peugeot hoped its work to update the 9X8 would vault it into contention on home soil and see it compete for a fourth overall win.

But it didn’t work out that way and while both 9X8s finished the race, they failed to make an impact, coming home 11th and 12th, two laps down. That performance and subsequent struggles at Sao Paulo resulted in further frustration for its drivers.

Jean-Eric Vergne, who drives the No. 93, was both deflated and frustrated when he spoke to RACER after failing to make Hyperpole that weekend. He made it clear he feels that Peugeot needs more than just a favorable BoP change to become a contender.

“We don’t have performance,” he said. “We did the best we could. Set-up wise, plan wise, we are doing our best but we are just slow. We are losing time everywhere.

“It’s not getting better. It’s very frustrating and I don’t really know what to say. There’s no reason behind our extremely poor performance. We just aren’t quick enough.

“Our performance has nothing to do with Sao Paulo. Le Mans wasn’t great, Spa wasn’t great, Imola wasn’t great. It’s very difficult and it’s hard for the guys that do such a good job in our team. It doesn’t matter who you put in the car, you can’t go faster than this. It’s not the mechanics, drivers or engineers that are at fault.

“We need a better car. The car needs to change, 100 percent. There is nowhere to hide anymore.”

Peugeot has struggled in relation to its Hypercar rivals. JEP/Motorsport Images

A day later, the race itself proved to be kinder to the 9X8s, but still, they were no match for the likes of Porsche and Ferrari and certainly not Toyota, which dominated the race.

The No. 93 ran towards the front – but out-of-sequence – for much of the race before finishing eighth. So, with the race at CoTA just days away and visits to Fuji and Bahrain looming, where does Peugeot go from here?

Peugeot managed to test in Austin ahead of Lone Star Le Mans over the summer and took part in the Michelin tire test focused on the new Hypercar compounds, which were due to debut in 2025 but have been delayed to 2026

Peugeot has also announced another tweak to its driver roster ahead of what it hopes will be a more fruitful 2025 season. Gone is Nico Mueller who is off to Porsche (via Andretti in Formula E) for a fresh start, in is Malthe Jakobsen, who has been promoted rapidly from junior, to reserve and now a full-time driver.

The young Dane will become a Hypercar factory driver next year at age 21 and if his performances in an LMP2 car over the past two years are anything to go by, he will serve as an injection of fresh, positive energy.

Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot’s technical director, knows that turning the program around will not be easy though. It needs to do more than freshen up its driver roster.

While there are no opportunities to debut any further updates to the car before the end of the current season due to the logistical constraints caused by the flyaways, developments are being explored for the 2025 season.

Speaking with RACER after the race in Brazil, Jansonnie gave a pragmatic assessment of the current situation.

“We didn’t have the pace to be at the front (in Sao Paulo). We knew tyre strategy would be paramount. But overall we executed a good strategy and we got the best out of our package,” he reflected. “That’s a positive. But we have to find more performance in the car. That’s for sure.

“There’s no reason why we can’t extract more pace. We are missing grip overall, that’s clear and we have ideas and options to fix it. We just need time to test.

“It’s difficult to improve during race weekends because practice is short and when you go to new circuits you are learning. I agree that we need to find pace in most areas. But I believe that will come from testing and set-up work.

“When you look at the timing of the season, the races are close so it’s unlikely we can bring something new for this season. But for sure we are thinking about what we can do during the winter in time for next season.

“For now we look to the final races.”

Meanwhile, at Alpine, the mood surrounding the program has its similarities and differences. Like Peugeot, its home race in June was a huge disappointment, but this is a younger project and it feels like there’s plenty more to come from the A424 ahead of its sophomore season next year. In general, there is more optimism to be found.

Of the new crop of Hypercar factories in 2024, you could argue that Alpine has shown the most promise. Look at the standings and the full-season No. 35 duo of Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi sit 15th, ahead of the two BMW crews and both the Lamborghini and Isotta trios, after points scores at Qatar and Spa.

There is still work to be done before Alpine can contend for race wins, and the disastrous outing at Le Mans has posed questions about the team’s engine package that still require answers. But, there is quiet optimism in the camp that the 2025 campaign will be a stronger one, with the French marque aiming to follow in Porsche’s footsteps and take a big step after its first year of competition.

Speaking with Alpine Endurance Team boss Philippe Sinault ahead of Alpine’s first race with the A424 in the USA, he made it clear he feels the team’s performances this year have been in line with his pre-season expectations – Le Mans aside.

Reliability has been a weakness for the A424, and the car has proven to be sensitive to different circuit styles. Sinualt rightly pointed out though that it is still early days for the project, which made its debut in Qatar after a test program that wasn’t as comprehensive or lengthy as he would have liked.

Nevertheless, the French brand is here with an ORECA-based challenger that looks the part, sounds the part, and has real potential to turn heads in the not-so-distant future.

“The expectation stays the same, even though Le Mans was not like we expected,” Sinault said ahead of the final leg of the 2024 season, We have to keep optimizing the time we have on track to build up knowledge and understanding of the car to be ready to fight at the front in 2025.

Reliability has been Alpine’s Achilles heel. JEP/Motorsport Images

“It’s not a lack of ambition, we are just growing step by step. We are closer to the others now, the gap is six, seven-tenths, and if we want to progress we have to keep finishing races.

“It’s important to understand that we had two options with a new car and a new program,” he continues. “We could have either tested alone to understand the car or enter it immediately for competition. We made the second choice, we were brave and we have to accept that sometimes we have issues. We feel the best way to understand a car and progress is to compete. That’s why we are here.”

While the car’s debut at Qatar was its most impressive showing so far, with the No. 35 finishing an impressive seventh overall and in the points, the opening phase of the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours, unfortunately, lives longer in the memory.

Alpine headed into Le Mans with high hopes, but these were quickly dashed when terminal engine issues saw both of its cars retire with the same root cause before 10 pm on Saturday night.

“It was huge, it was intense,” Sinualt reflected. “We learnt the most about the car there, even though we finished the race so early. We took a lot of experience from the week before, during testing and practice.

“It’s a young project, we identified that our issue could happen. We had issues of this type before but not before 24 hours of testing, not that early. It surprised us that after five hours we had these issues.

“We identified the trouble. Now we will react with some inputs into an update but it’s too soon to say if it will be in a joker loop or not. We can’t make changes now, we just have to adapt the way we use the engine.

“Le Mans is key to the project, the foundation is there. After Le Mans, we remain convinced that the package is perfect.”

Sinault explained that the problem has been identified and is being managed. A permanent fix is being evaluated, and the determination needs to be made if it requires a ‘Joker’ (update). Depending on how it all comes together, the change will be made in either “September, October or 2025.”

“Everyone has worked hard to prevent this issue from happening again,” he says. “It’s too early (now) to make big changes and play ‘Jokers’. The main part of the improvements to the car will be on this side with the team.

“The package and the base are really good. We are close to the others with very low mileage. So we prefer to say at the moment that we have to work well as a team. We have identified items that could be better but there’s no time for this at the moment.”

With the summer break now over, the remaining races present interesting challenges.

“Our car is a low downforce car at the moment,” Sinualt said. “If we want to progress, we have to work on tracks with different profiles, and the end of the calendar has three very different tracks. It’s going to give us a clear view by the end of the season. On low downforce tracks, we are okay, we’ve made progress with the brakes and TC and so on.

“The freight between Sao Paulo and COTA means we haven’t had the opportunity to book tests in Europe. But we have identified some subjects in terms of management of the engine and MGU and so on, and we are working on that.

“It will be an intense autumn and winter program because we have to summarize all our information and make some improvements. Maybe we will play some ‘Jokers’, we don’t know, but the winter will be the right time to prepare for 2025, not now.

“You never know how it will play out, but we expect to take steps with the car and keep the same drivers (for 2025). We have created a foundation with them.”

Peugeot reveals updated 9X8 Hypercar

Peugeot TotalEnergies has formally revealed their 2024-spec 9X8 FIA WEC Hypercar ahead of its race debut at the 6 Hours of Imola next month. The new 9X8, which features an entirely overhauled aerodynamic concept that includes a rear wing, replaces …

Peugeot TotalEnergies has formally revealed their 2024-spec 9X8 FIA WEC Hypercar ahead of its race debut at the 6 Hours of Imola next month.

The new 9X8, which features an entirely overhauled aerodynamic concept that includes a rear wing, replaces the evolved first iteration of the car which first appeared towards the end of the 2022 FIA WEC season.

The first-gen 9X8 featured an unconventional design that relied on its ability to generate the bulk of its downforce through its underfloor.

The car though had limited success during its time as Peugeot’s top-class WEC challenger and was plagued by both performance and reliability issues.

In addition to its aerodynamic improvements, Peugeot also hopes to benefit from new tire sizes for the car. The previous model used 31cm wide front and rear tyres and will switch to utilising 29cm front, 34cm rear tyres, which has become the standard in Hypercar. 90 perecent of the original bodywork has been redesigned and there have been other reliability-based changes too, including more built-in resilience in both the gearbox and the engine.

The high point for the car came at the 6 Hours of Monza last July when it finished on the podium. Other highlights included leading a substantial chunk of the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours and the 2024 FIA WEC season-opening 1812km race in Qatar.

“We made choices that are no longer relevant today and this performance gap has not been sufficiently compensated by the BoP (Balance of Performance) in 2023,” explained Olivier Jansonnie, technical director of Peugeot Sport.

“The idea was therefore to return to a choice of car concept much closer to what our competitors are doing, so as to then be balanced in an equivalent manner by the BoP. Hence in particular the abandonment of the fitting of 31/31cm square tires, to instead adopt rubber measuring 29cm in size at the front and 34cm at the rear.

“It is not strictly speaking a new car, because the entire chassis part has been preserved, but there are a lot of developments. To make the tires work properly, it was necessary to modify the center of gravity of the Peugeot 9X8, therefore moving parts, also working on weight reductions… And to have a well-balanced aerodynamic balance, we also reviewed the distribution of forces. aerodynamics, which led us to redesign around 90% of the bodywork elements, including the grafting of a rear wing.

“In addition to that, we took advantage of this new approval to include a certain number of reliability and performance developments to put all the chances on our side.”

Peugeot now confirm that they began work on the redesign as early as March 2023, and first revealed to RACER last July ahead of the race in Monza that it was evaluating substantial upgrades for the 2024 season. The new car began track testing late last year.

With the FIA and ACO working to ensure that Hypercar manufacturers don’t bring upgrades that disrupt the Balance of Performance process that is employed to allow LMH and LMDh cars to compete with one another, the Hypercar homologation process and the need to test proved to be lengthy obstacles. The new car was not available for the opening round of the 2024 Championship in Qatar, with Peugeot opting to delay its debut to Imola in April.

Even prior to the development of the 2024-spec 9X8, Peugeot had made significant strides with the original model to make it more reliable. This included a switch from a gearbox which shifted electronically to a new one that was hydraulically activated. However, the tweaks made during the second half of the 2023 season via more minor updates were not significant enough to make the car consistently competitive and Peugeot decided that a substantial update was necessary.

LMH cars, unlike LMDh cars, can benefit from up to five performance-related ‘Joker’ upgrades during their lifespan (reliability and safety-focused tweaks do not count towards the five), but the process is far from straightforward. Peugeot have not yet confirmed how many of these ‘Jokers’ have been used to enable the 2024 car to be fielded.

Porsche sweeps WEC podium in Qatar after Peugeot heartbreak

The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 claimed a historic victory for the team and the LMDh formula in FIA WEC competition under the floodlights Saturday in the Qatar 1812km race, after late drama resulted in a shock podium sweep for the German …

The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 claimed a historic victory for the team and the LMDh formula in FIA WEC competition under the floodlights Saturday in the Qatar 1812km race, after late drama resulted in a shock podium sweep for the German brand.

Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre put in a commanding performance, surviving a late scare in the closing stages when contact with one of the LMGT3 Lexus RC F GT3s knocked off the car’s left-side number panel, to lead home the all-Porsche podium.

“I went on the inside and he turned in,” Estre said. “He didn’t see me. Many guys out there in GT3 aren’t used to this traffic. I don’t want to blame anyone but it was sometimes difficult in the traffic. I’ve never had so much contact in a race.
“The car didn’t feel great after that, we could survive but we missed out on pure pace at the end.”

The result marks Penske’s first win as a team in the WEC, the first win for the 963 in the championship and the first win for an LMDh-spec car in Hypercar competition. The victory also adds to the 963’s perfect start to 2024, which began with a victory in the IMSA-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in January.

It was also the first time a manufacturer swept an overall podium un the WEC since 2013 at Spa.

While not an all-time classic, the 2024 season opener at the Lusail International Circuit provided a milestone result for the Hypercar formula, which saw the status quo turned on its head. After the 2023 season saw Toyota and Ferrari almost exclusively set the pace at each round, Saturday’s race became a battle between the Porsche Penske 963 and Peugeot’s No. 93 9X8 in the final send-off for the first iteration of the French OEM’s wingless challenger.

So close, yet still catastrophe for Peugeot. Motorsport Images

The No. 50 Ferrari led the opening laps after a rocket start for Miguel Molina before Nico Muller drove the No. 93 to the lead by the end of the first hour. The No. 6 then took control of the race in the second hour, when Muller ran wide at Turn 1, letting Vanthoor through.

From then on, when the race settled down, it essentially became a chase between the No. 6 and No. 93, with the gap expanding and contracting as the conditions changed and the tyre strategies played out. At one point early in the second half of the race, the margin shrunk to under 10s, but the Porsche was able to keep the 9X8 at arm’s length and pull away when the sun went down.

In the end, the No. 6 crossed the line 34s clear of the competition after a late stop to place a new number sticker on the car.

“It was a bit crazy, to be honest,” race winner Kevin Estre said. “I had a massive hit with the Lexus, we had a lot of vibration after that and no grip. It made it spicy to the end. But the whole team did an amazing job, no issues. I am really happy with where we are today compared to where we started last year.”

After a loss of power in the dying seconds of the race for Jean-Eric Vergne, the Peugeot failed to take second, making it an all-Porsche podium. It was a crushing blow that ruined what looked to be the 9X8 and Peugeot TotalEnergies’ most convincing showing.

Finishing second after 335 laps of the 5.4km circuit was eventually the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche of Norman Nato, Will Stevens and Callum Illot after what was easily the British team’s strongest performance since graduating to the top class.

Ilott finished just 1s ahead of Matt Campbell in the pole-sitting No. 5 Penske Porsche, which struggled with vibration issues early but nabbed third to make it a double podium for Penske.

The late heartbreak for the No. 93 Peugeot, which limped home down in seventh, promoted Cadillac Racing’s V-Series.R to fourth.

Cadillac believed it was in with a chance pre-race, confident the V-Series.R’s long run pace would keep it in the fight. But its plans unravelled at Turn 1 on lap one when Alex Lynn tagged the No. 94 Peugeot, damaging its front-left corner. While it wasn’t entirely clear from the TV footage, Lynn’s teammate Sebastien Bourdais said the car snapped on Lynn because he was hit from the rear by the No. 38 HERTZ Team JOTA Porsche.

The contact forced the team to change the car’s front and rear at its first stop, dropping it down the order. A strong run from Lynn, Bourdais and Earl Bamber saw the car eventually finish fourth.

“To start the season here with a fourth place is sort of where we kicked off last season,” Bamber said. “I think it gives us great momentum. The team did an amazing job and on the strategy, they did a solid job to pull us all the way back up. If you would have said at the beginning of the day that we would get a fourth place, I think we would have taken that comfortably. It’s something that we can build on going to Imola and Spa and the rest of the season.”

On pace, Ferrari may have been a contender for the victory if the race was run again, too. However, all three 499Ps were delayed and were forced into recovery drives to salvage as many points as possible.

The No. 50 led the race in the opening hour but was handed a drive-through for crossing the white line at pit-in early on, failed to find the pace to climb back up the order and crossed the line eighth. On the other side of the garage, the No. 51 then needed a rear clip change after James Calado tagged an LMGT3 car, which sent the rear bodywork flying into the air after becoming dislodged. It finished 14th.

Not without its own drama, AF Corse’s privately-entered Ferrari battled back to be the highest-finishing horse. JEP/Motorsport Images

AF Corse’s privately-funded No. 83 499P enjoyed the most impressive outing of the three, but after threatening to stay in the running for a podium in the opening hours, contact for Robert Shwartzman meant it, too, needed a new rear end at a pit stop. This cost valuable time, but it did cross the line as the highest-placed Italian prototype in fifth.

Perhaps the greatest surprise was just how anonymous Toyota’s GR010 HYBRIDs were once the race got underway. After years of dominance from the Japanese make, it was a strange sight to see both its cars struggle to stay on the lead lap in the opening hours of the race.

The No. 7 started on the front row but was swallowed up by the pack in the opening sequence and ended up a lap down before the halfway mark. The second half of the race saw the car in the mix at times, but nobody at Toyota Gazoo Racing will be satisfied with sixth.

The 2023 title-winning No. 8 sister car struggled too, even more than the No. 7. It finished way down in 10th, despite suffering no notable issues.

All week long Toyota played down its chances. The team believed that the weight increase and power decrease it was handed for the race — plus general improvements in form and execution from its competition — would make it a challenge to score points.

Following a quiet run in the test and practice, Nyck de Vries’ heroics in Qualifying provided a brief flash of hope. In the end, once the race got underway, it became clear that this was not going to be a memorable weekend. Instead, this circuit, which is new to the championship, and the tweaked balance of performance values for the race, appeared to favor the characteristics of the 963, V-Series.R and 9X8.

As for the new cars, as expected this race had the look of an extended test session for BMW, Alpine, Lamborghini and Isotta Fraschini. The reliability was impressive, though the No. 15 BMW ended up in the garage briefly in the ninth hour and the Tipo6-C was forced into retirement with front suspension woes after 157 laps.

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The No. 36 Alpine A424 was the only one of them to finish in the points in ninth, but it was overall an encouraging debut for the new LMDh prototypes which will almost certainly improve rapidly as the season goes on.

The only real concern at this point is just how far Isotta and Lamborghini were off the pace. The Isotta was multiple laps down when it retired in the second half of the race, having been dealt a 200s stop-go for a technical infringement, and the SC63 crossed the line five laps behind the winning car.

It did, however, finish ahead of the No. 15 BMW that hit trouble late on, the No. 94 Peugeot which spent 30 minutes in the garage with battery issues and the No. 38 JOTA Porsche which retired in its pit box after Oliver Rasmussen couldn’t get the car fired in the final hour.

The LMGT3 race at Qatar wasn’t quite the door-banging thriller that many of the teams expected before the lights went out, but it generated plenty of talking points and added to Porsche’s perfect weekend.

The class was won by the No. 92 Manthey Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 LMGT3 R 992 after an engrossing battle with the Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler put together a masterful, fault-free performance in the Lithuanian team’s FIA WEC debut.

The performance continued the young team’s title-winning form from the Asian Le Mans Series over the winter and handed it an early championship lead.

Behind it was a memorable 1-2 finish for Aston Martin’s new-for-2024 Vantage LMGT3, as D’Station’s example took third behind the American-flagged entry from Heart of Racing.

RESULTS

 

Peugeot aiming to race revised 9×8 LMH at Imola

Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie has revealed that the upgraded 9X8, which will sport a new aerodynamic concept and chassis modifications to allow Peugeot to move to a larger tire size, will debut at round two of the 2024 FIA World …

Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie has revealed that the upgraded 9X8, which will sport a new aerodynamic concept and chassis modifications to allow Peugeot to move to a larger tire size, will debut at round two of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season in Imola.

“We have put all of our focus in developing the new car; right now the main thing is to prepare for Qatar with the 2023-spec car, and we try to bring the new car in Imola,” he said on a conference call with WEC media members. “We are trying to go through the last parts of the aero homologation with the ACO and FIA and hopefully it will be ready in time for Imola.

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Jansonnie also explained due to the time it takes to design, develop and test upgrades ahead of re-homologating the car, Peugeot knew from the outset that debuting the upgrades would not be possible for the season opener in Qatar. It was a task that Peugeot began undertaking early in the 2023 season, before Jansonnie hinted to RACER after Le Mans that “significant” updates were being planned.

“You can’t just do half the job,” he explained. “You have to do it fully and that takes time. It’s very important for us that we can bring something that is making a clear step forward in terms of performance.”

While Jansonnie would not go into detail about the car seemingly running with a rear wing in its 2024 spec, he did stress how much of an impact changing tire size would have. Currently, the 9X8 uses 31cm wide tires all around, and will switch to the now-standard 29cm front, 34cm rear tires.

“Most of the changes we’re making are just to accommodate the tire dimensions,” he noted. “First, we need to move the weight distribution on the car. Our car was designed to run at a very forward weight distribution because of the 31-31 (cm) tires. We’ve got to move it back somehow, which means we need to have some lighter parts on the car, move some ballast over to try to move the weight distribution and then obviously retune the aero balance on the car.

“That’s the second biggest part of the package, to try to get an aero balance on the car that matches the new tire dimension. Everything is actually driven by the tire choice we are making now.”

This news comes after the new-look 9X8 was spied testing before Christmas at Paul Ricard in France. The feedback from testing has been positive to this point.

“We’ve run elements of the car all the way through the development,” Peugeot driver Paul Di Resta said. “It feels very different. It gives you more feedback in the direction we want. But it’s been hard racing the car we’ve had against the competition.

“The restraints we’ve had — not just in aero, not just mechanical, all the way through — are the things we’ve addressed. It was a new team that designed this car; they’re putting all the data they’ve gathered to use. I’m looking forward to seeing how it fares against the others.”

Di Resta was keen to keep expectations realistic ahead of its debut, however.

“It’s obvious that how our car worked was very different to others,” he said. “How the rules were decided way back is the direction they went with the car we used last year.

“You can’t underestimate the competition — it’s always going forward. I think the development Toyota came with last year at Sebring showed the difference you can make between cars.”

Vandoorne secures full-time Peugeot WEC drive

2021-22 Formula E champion Stoffel Vandoorne will join the Peugeot TotalEnergies team’s full-season FIA WEC Hypercar driver roster in 2024, following the departure of Gustavo Menezes. The news of the Belgian’s full-time drive comes after his first …

2021-22 Formula E champion Stoffel Vandoorne will join the Peugeot TotalEnergies team’s full-season FIA WEC Hypercar driver roster in 2024, following the departure of Gustavo Menezes.

The news of the Belgian’s full-time drive comes after his first WEC race start with the French manufacturer at Fuji earlier this month, standing in for the injured Nico Müller. The race in Japan was Vandoorne’s first in the WEC since the end of his 2021 campaign with JOTA Sport in LMP2 and his first in the top class since the 2018-19 season, when he made two starts with SMP Racing in a BR1 AER LMP1.

“Finally!!” Vandoorne, who has filled the role of reserve driver for Peugeot this season, said on social media. “I’m joining Peugeot Sport next season and super happy to be back on the WEC grid! I’ve had some great endurance racing moments and am excited to create many more together.”

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Menezes, who has been with Peugeot’s 9X8 Hypercar program since its inception, announced last week that the 2023 season finale in Bahrain will be his final race weekend with the team.

“After a three-year journey together, filled with ups and downs, Bahrain will officially be my final race with Peugeot Sport in the FIA WEC,” Menezes said in a statement. “It’s been an absolute pleasure building this project together and making memories that will last a lifetime. As one door closes, new doors open. It’s too soon to share with you all my plans for 2024, but it will be fast — best of luck to the team.”

It is not clear whether or not Vandoorne will be called up again for the 2023 finale in Bahrain. Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie told the media at Fuji that it was too early to say whether or not Müller (who missed the meeting due to a collarbone injury) would be ready for the eight-hour race.

“At the moment the news is good, but we will have to judge at the last minute,” he told the media. “At the moment he is recovering very well. For now, the plan is for him to be in Bahrain; we think he will be.”

Vandoorne hopeful of building on Peugeot WEC chance

Stoffel Vandoorne is eager to make the most of his FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar debut with the Peugeot TotalEnergies team this weekend at Fuji Speedway, where he will race in place of the injured Nico Müller in the No. 94 9X8. The …

Stoffel Vandoorne is eager to make the most of his FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar debut with the Peugeot TotalEnergies team this weekend at Fuji Speedway, where he will race in place of the injured Nico Müller in the No. 94 9X8.

The 2021/22 Formula E champion received the late call-up for this drive when it became clear that Müller, who suffered an injury to his left collarbone during the summer break, wouldn’t be fit to race. As such, Vandoorne has been short on time to prepare.

Vandoorne’s WEC run at Fuji is a one-off, for now. Motorsport Images

As Peugeot Sport’s reserve driver, the Belgian is not heading into this weekend’s track action completely blind. Vandoorne has previous experience behind the wheel of the 9X8 at a test at the Aragon circuit back in March, as well as WEC starts in LMP1 with SMP Racing and LMP2 with JOTA to draw from. While there was no chance to get any additional track time in the Peugeot, he managed to fit in some simulator time last week to help him get up to speed.

“It’s not a complete unknown for me because I have raced in WEC before,” said Vandoorne. “Obviously, times have changed with Hypercar — it’s more competitive than ever. You always want more mileage, but I am glad to get on with it.

“I don’t think there will be any big surprises. I will need to learn the car again in the beginning, but I don’t expect any issues. I am more focused on procedures and making sure I don’t make silly mistakes.

“It’s been a challenge because I have been switching between a lot of cars lately with the (DS Penske) Formula E car, the Aston Martin (F1 car) and now the Peugeot. Every wheel has a different layout and each car operates differently.”

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The 6 Hours of Fuji is presently a one-off for Vandoorne, as Peugeot expects Müller to be fit to race in time for the season finale at Bahrain in November.

“At the moment the news is good, but we will have to judge at the last minute,” Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie said of Müller’s readiness. “At the moment he is recovering very well. For now, the plan is for him to be in Bahrain; we think he will be.”

Vandoorne’s future role with Peugeot. When asked if a full-time WEC drive is a priority for 2024, he said he has no preference between racing in the WEC or Formula E.

“I’d like to do both,” he said. “I want to drive in as many programs as possible. The more you can drive the better it is. It’s good to combine cars and skill sets. It develops your general skill set if you’re jumping from one car to another.

“My future in Formula E is not only a Stellantis decision because the team is part-owned by Penske. There are more parties involved.”

He did, however, all but rule out a switch in Formula E to fellow Stellantis brand Maserati in the short term.

“I am not calling them, and they haven’t been calling me,” he said.

Vandoorne to stand in for injured Muller at Fuji

Former McLaren Formula 1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne is set to compete in the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Fuji with Peugeot TotalEnergies, standing in for the injured Nico Muller in the No. 94 9X8 Hypercar. The race in Japan will be the 2021-22 Formula E title …

Former McLaren Formula 1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne is set to compete in the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Fuji with Peugeot TotalEnergies, standing in for the injured Nico Muller in the No. 94 9X8 Hypercar.

The race in Japan will be the 2021-22 Formula E title winner’s first in the FIA WEC since the end of his 2021 campaign with JOTA Sport in LMP2 and his first in the top class since the 2018-19 season when he made two starts in LMP1 with SMP Racing.

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Muller is unable to travel to Japan due to a collarbone injury, which has forced him to put his season on hold. Thus, Vandoorne has been called into action for a race seat with Peugeot from his current role as its reserve driver for the first time. He will compete alongside full-season drivers Gustavo Menezes and Loic Duval.

“During summer break, I sustained an injury on my left collarbone,” said Müller in a statement on social media. “It’s been perfectly treated by specialists and I am already fully in the phase of rehabilitation.

“In consultation with the doctors & my Team Peugeot Total Energies – in order to allow optimal healing – I decided to refrain from participating in the next WEC round in Fuji.

“Even though I am very disappointed by having to sit out the one race, I am fully committed to coming back stronger than ever!

“Thanks to the doctors, my family, my teams, my partners & you guys for your support!”

Vandoorne has tested the 9X8 prior to the weekend in Fuji as part of his role with the team. He was also due to take part in the 2022 post-season FIA WEC rookie test in Bahrain, but had to skip it due to a bout of appendicitis and was forced to wait until February this year to get seat time in the car.

Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot Sport’s technical director, says he has complete faith in Vandoornes ability to step in on short notice.

“Unfortunately, Nico won’t be able to race for this round and we wish him a speedy recovery. Stoffel Vandoorne has all our trust, and we know that he will be able to step in quickly and give his maximum,” he said.

“We are entering the last part of the season and our aim will be to be 100% reliable for the last two races and fight at the front with both our Peugeot 9X8. We will get ready as best as we can for these two races, trying to be consistent in our performance and race results.”

Vandoorne, a previous GP2 champion, is not the only driver who has been called up on short notice to compete at Fuji. An updated entry list for the race reveals that Ben Hanley will compete in the No. 23 United LMP2 seat that was originally set to be filled by Tom Blomqvist.

Blomqvist is set to compete in the remaining 2023 IndyCar races at Portland and Laguna Seca instead, ahead of his recently announced full-season drive in the US single-seater championship with Meyer Shank Racing in 2024. In addition, Andrea Caldarelli has also been named in the No. 63 PREMA ORECA with Doriane Pin and Danill Kvyat. It will be a second start in a row for the Italian 2024 Lamborghini Hypercar driver, after competing in the 6 Hours of Monza last month.

The 2023 FIA WEC Six Hours of Fuji is set to take place on September 10th.

No wing and a prayer: Peugeot’s radical Hypercar at the crossroads

A year on from the race debut of the Peugeot 9X8, it feels like the French manufacturer’s Hypercar program has reached a crucial moment as the FIA World Endurance Championship returns to Monza. It hasn’t been a comfortable 12 months for Peugeot in …

A year on from the race debut of the Peugeot 9X8, it feels like the French manufacturer’s Hypercar program has reached a crucial moment as the FIA World Endurance Championship returns to Monza.

It hasn’t been a comfortable 12 months for Peugeot in the WEC. A lack of outright pace and reliability woes have left little to show for the team’s efforts. There have been no wins, pole positions or even a podium place as part of a top class that has been steadily growing in quality and size.

The 9X8’s aerodynamic concept, which relies on its ability to generate the bulk of its downforce through its underfloor, has been a topic of discussion since the car’s public debut. Its powertrain — which initially featured a gearbox that shifted electronically and proved to be notoriously unreliable — has too. However, with the end of its first full season with the car in sight, the mood surrounding the program appears to be shifting and things appear to be turning around.

As a whole, the 9X8 has been steadily improving as a package, with a new hydraulically activating gearbox proving to be a significant step forward in terms of reliability. The outright performance of the car is gradually being unlocked too. Its test program before and during this season, which included two significant visits to Paul Ricard and Magny Cours before the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has been hugely beneficial. Nevertheless, the team was playing down prospects prior to the WEC’s signature race.

“We have to be humble,” driver Gustavo Menezes told RACER before the French endurance classic last month. “Toyota didn’t show up and win in their first year. Peugeot didn’t in LMP1 with the 908 either, and they finished on top in the end. We just have to keep working, but I am genuinely confident we will get there in the end.”

To the surprise of many, though, Peugeot’s 9X8s were in the mix up front at Le Mans, with the No. 94 leading the race overall into the night.

An off at the first Mulsanne Chicane before midnight ended the car’s chances of victory, but there were clear signs that the 9X8 could become a race winner in this BoP-governed category. It simply looked more at home at La Sarthe, the most important location on the calendar. The two 9X8s made it to the finish eighth and 12th overall and, until both cars hit trouble in the closing hours of the race, ran reliably. Now, Peugeot is looking to build on that progression this weekend in Italy.

“We thought that we might have small issues at Le Mans, so it was positive that we were mostly reliable,” Loic Duval, who shares the team’s No. 94 with Menezes and Nico Müller, told RACER. “I wouldn’t say it was surprising, but it was positive. It was encouraging that the car worked in the wet conditions and in the dry too. We can expect another step here (at Monza) because we ran here last year and we worked through problems with car behavior. I don’t think we will be able to fight with the best teams, but we will get closer.

“I think our best opportunities will be at Fuji and Bahrain,” Duval reckoned. “The nature of the circuits and the BoP we have seen for those races shows us that if there is a bigger opportunity it will be there.

“At Monza, you rely on straight-line speed and getting traction on curbs. Because we have different-sized tires to everyone else, traction is always a question mark ao we are not sure where we are going to be. So on pure performance, Fuji and Bahrain will probably be our best chances.”

Peugeot’s unique design stands out from the rest of the Hypercar pack — and also led that pack early on at Le Mans. Motorsport Images

Perhaps the bigger question is what the effort will look like next season. Despite rumors to the contrary, Peugeot continues to insist it is in Hypercar for the long haul.

“The commitment from the brand is still there — it’s still the same,” Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot’s technical director, told RACER. “Le Mans was a big boost for everybody. We have never been more committed than we are now to winning races and winning Le Mans.”

So what will the 9X8 look like next year, given the restrictions on LMH development?

“You’re stuck with your homologation,” Jansonnie noted. “Still, around the homologation, there are many things you can actually improve and maximize. If you look at Le Mans, we did a lot of things that were very good strategy-wise, but there were some mistakes. We look at the others, they also did well but made mistakes.

“There is still the potential to run a perfect race, which nobody achieved at Le Mans in terms of pure strategy. It’s frustrating because the cars are frozen and you have to expect the BoP to correct your car to the right performance level. But from our side, it’s very clear that there are many things around the car that we can improve.”

Avenues Peugeot can explore before the start of the 2024 season range from making mild revisions to the 9X8, bringing a fundamentally different package to the table, or working towards something in between. No decisions have been made on that yet.

“We would like to make up the gap with a significant development package, but there is something in the rules that needs to be negotiated with the FIA and ACO,” Jansonnie explained. “We can’t disclose it — we are in this negotiation right now. The way the rules are done, we have to agree on what we are allowed to do in terms of the development of the car.

“It’s under evaluation. We have those two options; we are looking at a very basic upgrade of the current package or a very significant development of the car. The exact position of where we are between these two extreme solutions will depend on negotiations with the ACO and FIA. We are open to everything and are looking at all our options.”

Those options could include a major change in direction to the car’s aerodynamic concept. The addition of a rear wing, and therefore a shift in philosophy, was something that was hinted at by a source prior to Le Mans.

“There is nothing developed,” Jansonnie said of the prospect for such a change. “We have different concepts under evaluation. In terms of your aerodynamic package, you have many routes you can take. What is important is what you achieve in terms of results and mapping in the wind tunnel.

“We have different tools — adding a rear wing is one, but we have different ways of achieving it. If you look closely, the parts on the track where we are missing performance aren’t the high-speed areas of the track. It’s a question we get all the time about this car, but it’s not our biggest concern.”

Vergne takes Peugeot to the top in final Monza practice

Jean-Eric Vergne found speed in the No. 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 in this morning’s final WEC practice session at Monza. The Frenchman set an early 1m36.346 banker lap, which briefly put him top, before improving to a 1m36.878, solidifying his …

Jean-Eric Vergne found speed in the No. 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 in this morning’s final WEC practice session at Monza.

The Frenchman set an early 1m36.346 banker lap, which briefly put him top, before improving to a 1m36.878, solidifying his position as the fastest driver just eight minutes into the session.

This was the first time a Peugeot has finished atop the times in a WEC session since Bahrain last season when the No. 93 ran fastest in Free Practice 2.

However, the session didn’t entirely go to plan for the No. 93 crew, as after the session Vergne revealed that the car suffered a gearbox issue, limiting the car to 10 laps.

“When Mikkel was in the car we had a problem with the gearbox so the team has had to change it, the team is doing its maximum ahead of Qualifying,” he said. “There are a lot of things we wanted to understand from a long run but we couldn’t do it.

“Nevertheless, it feels good for the team to be up there. If we can be behind the Toyotas and Ferraris but ahead of the Porsche and Cadillac in Qualifying then it would be a fantastic result. We are going to push for that.”

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With a 1m35.923, Antonio Fuoco put the No .50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P second in the times. The No .93 and No .50 are the only cars to set sub-1:36 lap times so far this weekend.

Adding to the promising morning for Peugeot, American racer Gustavo Menezes put the No. 94 9X8 third with a 1m36.105.

The top six were all within seven-tenths. The No. 51 Ferrari ended up fourth on the screens, above the No. 2 Cadillac and No. 38 JOTA Porsche.

Further down the order, it was a quiet session for Toyota Gazoo Racing, its GR010 HYBRIDs finished eighth and 11th. The No. 7 proved to be the faster of the two, but 1.5 seconds off the pace.

Meanwhile, it was a more productive session for Vanwall, its Vanderverll 580 completing 29 laps and finishing 12th overall. Yesterday the team lost a lot of time to an engine failure in FP2.

In LMP2, Pietro Fittipaldi set the benchmark early in the session in the No. 28 JOTA ORECA. The Brazilian’s hot lap was a 1m39.621. Vector Sport ended the hour-long run second, with the No. 36 Alpine third.

GTE Am saw multiple teams trade fast times. In the end, Matteo Cairoli put the No. 56 Project 1 AO Porsche on top late in the session with a 1m46.762, after Lilou Wadoux and Mikkel Pedersen put the No. 83 Richard Mille Ferrari and No. 77 Dempsey Porsche quickest.

The No. 77 would end up second, with the No. 60 Iron Lynx Porsche up to third after an improvement at the death of the session from Alessio Picariello (1m47.097).

RESULTS

LM24, Hour 5: Hero to zero for JOTA Porsche

After a lengthy safety car period for heavy rain, the Le Mans 24 Hours is green and frantic once again. Peugeot’s lead from the previous hour didn’t last long once the race resumed, as a hard-charging Yiefei Ye quickly passed the No. 94 of Gustavo …

After a lengthy safety car period for heavy rain, the Le Mans 24 Hours is green and frantic once again.

Peugeot’s lead from the previous hour didn’t last long once the race resumed, as a hard-charging Yiefei Ye quickly passed the No. 94 of Gustavo Menezes in the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche. Ye took the lead between Mulsanne Corner and the Porsche Curves after running side by side for the entire stretch in what was yet another thrilling sequence.

It was a dream start to the hour for the British team, which in only its second race with the 963 in Hypercar, started 60th, and found itself leading the Le Mans 24 Hours. But Ye would go from hero to zero before the end of Hour 5, when he made an error at the final section of the Porsche Curves and went sideways into the tires at high speed. The impact ripped the rear assembly and engine cover off the car, and damaged the right front with a secondary impact.

Ye then had to dash back to the pits, where the mechanics pushed the car back into the garage for substantial repairs. Ye was understandably distraught as he climbed out.

“We have the front end, rear end, rear wing all damaged and the floor too. The suspension seems OK. We are repairing the bodywork and we will go again. He just lost it in the Porsche Curves,” team principal Dieter Gass related.

Overall it was a disastrous hour for Porsche in Hypercar, as the two factory WEC full-season Penske 963s both hit trouble too. The No. 6 of Dane Cameron suffered a right-rear puncture shortly after the restart while running second, and the No. 5 was handed a drive-through for overtaking a car under the safety car.

It’s all unravelled so fast for the German marque, although the No. 5 Porsche is still third after its penalty, ahead of the No. 75 IMSA-crewed car that’s fourth. The No. 6 is down to 11th and is a lap down after coming in for a replacement tire.

With JOTA’s hopes of victory over, the pair of AF Corse Ferrari 499Ps are back up front. The No. 50 of Miguel Molina leads the No. 51 of Antonio Giovanazzi, who climbed the order after Menezes pitted the No. 94 and Ye had his off. Although it’s still early, of course, it’s been a very quiet and promising opening five hours from the Italian marque.

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In the other classes, the No. 41 WRT ORECA has emerged as the LMP2 leader with Louis Deletraz now aboard. The No. 41 is having a much better run than the sister car, which has dropped to 18th in class after its off in the rain earlier and required a front and rear end change.

It’s a similar story for United Autosports. Its No. 22 is five laps down from the leader after Frederick Lubin’s incident, while the No. 23 is second with Oliver Jarvis putting in a strong stint. The No. 28 JOTA ORECA is third.

GTE Am has had its front-running order changed, as the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 of Francesco Castellacci has moved to the front, with Martin Rump in the No. 911 Proton Porsche second. The No. 85 Iron Dames car, which led under the safety car, is now down to third.

At the back of the Am field, Corvette Racing remains off the lead lap, the team confirming to RACER that a front damper failure was the cause of the No. 33’s earlier trip to the garage. Initially, the C8.R was two laps down after rejoining but has since recovered a lap since the safety car. Next on the job list is gaining the second lap back. If it can do it on pace, or a safety car hands the team a break, then the No. 33 can get back into contention.

“It was very strange. Everything was going fine. The car was running great and was all good. Out of nowhere, prototypes passed me and after that I had a weird feeling,” explained Nicky Catsburg. “Maybe this was because I had to go off-line and had some pickup, but it wouldn’t disappear. The car was moving around a lot under braking and at all speed. So I told the guys that I think we had an issue. When we got it into the pitlane, it was the damper and we lost two laps. The crew still did an awesome job and couldn’t have done it quicker.

“It’s really tough, though, to come back from this spot. It seems like a disastrous race with the safety cars. But our main competitors in the championship are out of the race, so even with zero points we will still lead the championship. So we need to focus and get as many points as possible. Maybe we can get back on the lead lap. I kind of doubt it, but we will never give up. The car is definitely fast, and everything went well. So I know we have a good car.”

HOUR 5 STANDINGS