Peugeot has switched from focusing on the development of its updated 9X8 2024 Le Mans Hypercar fully to improving performance after its reliable run at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Olivier Jansonnie, technical director of the Peugeot Sport organisation that develops and runs the 9X8s, revealed that he is expecting an upturn in the performance of a car that failed to make it into the top 10 at double-points round of the World Endurance Championship in June as a result.
He explained that the clean finish for the two 9X8s, which ended up 11th and 12th at Le Mans, “moves a bit the kind centre of gravity of what you are doing”.
“Before Le Mans, you have that thing where you must deliver reliability,” he said.
“We really focussed over the winter on reliability to cure all the issues we had in previous years.
“It seems that the reliability is good; now we need to spend more time testing on performance.
“Now the focus of testing will be different: it is easier to run after one thing rather than running after reliability and performance.
“We still have four races to try to show performance and we are really pushing to do this.”
Jansonnie conceded that Peugeot is still learning about its new Hypercar class contender, which has switched wheel and tyre configuration from equal size rims all round to narrower fronts and wider rears.
The change of concept that arrived at the Imola WEC round in April has resulted in heavily revised aerodynamics, including the addition of a conventional rear wing.
“There is definitely still a lot to learn on this car,” he explained.
“We started running the car in December and it is quite different to the previous car.”
“At Le Mans, the areas we were weak were the areas where on the other one [the first-generation 9X8] we were quite strong, and vice versa — that shows that it is very different.
Jansonnie explained that Peugeot has identified the areas in which Peugeot needs to improve the latest version of the 9X8.
“Generally we are trying to give more confidence to the drivers in order for them to push the car a little bit more,” he said.
Peugeot will resume its test programme with a run at Austin ahead of round six of this year’s WEC on 1 September.
It will take part in a two-day test attended by multiple manufacturers as well as a one-day Michelin test focussed on the new generation of tyre the French supplier plans to introduce next year.
Jansonnie revealed that there would be further testing after the Fuji round, which takes place two weeks after Austin on 15 September, and before the series finale in Bahrain in November.
Peugeot topped the times in an inclusive opening session of free practice for this weekend’s Sao Paolo 6 Hours WEC round.
The #93 entry was at the top of the times with a time from Nico Muller when a session that started on a damp track was red-flagged halfway through its 90-minute duration.
The practice period was not restarted and instead 45 minutes have been added to FP2.
