Peugeot opts out of 2022 Le Mans to focus on reliability
Peugeot’s new Le Mans Hypercar will not grace the grid at the Le Mans 24 Hours this June. The French manufacturer announced on Friday that it had opted against taking on the challenge of the French enduro so early in the 9X8’s World Endurance Championship programme.
The new hybrid prototype will now race for the first time in the summer, explained Peugeot, which was not specific about which round of the WEC is pencilled in for the car’s debut. A summer entry into the WEC, for which it has two entries, would suggest the Monza 6 Hours in July.
Peugeot emphasised the homologation rules that will effectively freeze the specification of the 9X8 until the end of 2025 once it starts racing. It explained that it needed to focus on the reliability of the new car rather than racing at the Spa WEC round in early May and then at Le Mans in June.
“This will afford us the time we need to achieve the necessary level of reliability,” said 9X8 technical director Olivier Jansonnie. “This way, our planning will enable us to put the full weight of our team and resources behind our own test sessions without the disruption of racing at Spa and Le Mans. Both operationally and from a reliability perspective, Le Mans is the most difficult race on the calendar.”
No reference was made to the avant-garde aerodynamics of the car, which forego the need for a conventional rear wing. Jansonnie had previously said that everything pointed to the concept working.
Peugeot’s announcement on Friday was meant to be followed on Monday by the release of the full 62-car Le Mans entry list. But its publication was delayed until “later this week” by race organiser the Automobile Club de l’ouest for what it described in a brief statement on Twitter as “administrative reasons”.
No further explanation was given, but it is likely that race organiser the Automobile Club de l’ouest was absorbing the ramifications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week. Russian entrant G-drive Racing has a full-season WEC entry in LMP2 and had also filed entries for two more cars, one under a joint flag with Algarve
Pro Racing, its technical partner.
In Peugeot’s absence, Kevin Magnussen looks set to return to Le Mans alongside his father, Jan. An entry has been made for the Magnussens (left) to drive a High Class Racing ORECA-GIBSON 07 in the LMP2 pro/am class alongside veteran Mark Patterson.
The Belgian WRT squad has taken up one of the two guaranteed entry slots it won last year and will field a third LMP2 ORECA alongside its two WEC cars. Dries Vanthoor and Mirko Bortolotti, respectively Audi and Lamborghini factory drivers, will share with Rolf Ineichen.