The Latest Breaking News from Peugeot

The French manufacturer has revealed that the only candidate to replace Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne, who will be on Formula E duty in Berlin that weekend for sister marque DS with Penske, is Malthe Jakobsen. The 20-year-old Dane was announced last summer by Peugeot last year as its WEC…

The wingless iteration of the 9X8 made its final WEC bow in Saturday’s Qatar 1812Km event at the Losail International Circuit ahead of being replaced by a more conventional design from April’s Six Hours of Imola.

The Penske-run factory Porsche 963 LMDh the Frenchman shared with Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer had sustained serious bodywork damage over the final hours of the Qatar 1812Km, which meant he was worried that a stop for repairs would wipe out his lead over the chasing Peugeot. 

The car shared by Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Muller and Mikken Jensen was provisionally qualified seventh after Vergne had managed to crawl to the finish line on electrical power, a lap down on the winning #6 Porsche.

Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer took top honours in the Qatar 1812Km despite Estre having to make an unscheduled pitstop with fewer than 10 laps to go due to a missing number panel on the left-hand side of the factory #6 Penske 963 LMDh. 

Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer took top honours in the Qatar 1812Km despite Estre having to make an unscheduled pitstop with fewer than 10 laps to go due to a missing number panel on the left-hand side of the factory #6 Penske 963 LMDh.

Andre Lotterer was circulating 28s out in front in the factory #6 Porsche Penske 963 LMDh after five hours of racing in the Qatar 1812Km, as the order stabilised after a chaotic start at the Losail International Circuit.

Campbell topped the times in the 10-minute Hyperpole session for the fastest 10 cars that progressed from opening qualifying lasting 12 minutes.

Porsche had dominated the Prologue as well as the first two practice sessions for the 10-hour fixture at Qatar with its 963 LMDh, but Cadillac surged ahead in relatively hotter conditions on Friday morning.

Driving Porsche Penske Motorsport’s #6 963 LMDh, Estre set a blistering time of 1m39.990s at the beginning of the 90-minute session that was cut short by a stoppage for the new Lamborghini SC63 LMDh.

Matt Campbell was fastest in the #5 factory Porsche 963 LMDh in the 90-minute session as the German manufacturer maintained its monopoly of top spot in the timesheets at the Losail International Circuit since the start of the two-day pre-season test on Monday.