24h Le Mans
The Team Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar prototypes are about to make their debut in competition at the 6 Hours of Monza, fourth round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship, and the team is hoping to gain priceless new information throughout its first participation.
Remember, the Peugeot 908 LMP1 made its debut at the temple of speed in April 2007 at the 1000 km of Monza. Now the 9X8 will take the stage for the first time at the 6 Hours of Monza this weekend.
This first foray into competiton signals the end of an intense Peugeot 9X8 testing campaign at several European circuits. These last few weeks, the team has been carefully developing its game plan. Simulator sessions were organised at Satory in order to determine energy management strategies while the drivers focused on circuit characteristics. A final shakedown was executed in Spain at MotorLand Aragón where the milestone of 15,000 testing kilometers was reached. The team also took some time to carry out a 36-hour endurance test!
Now, on to the reality of racing. Upcoming rounds will allow Team Peugeot TotalEnergies to collect a great deal of information toward the car's continued development. The French manufacturer is embarking on a quest for performance with the 2023 season and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in mind.
The driver line-ups for the 6 Hours of Monza are as follows: the #93 will be shared by Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne, and the #94 will be driven by Loïc Duval, Gustavo Menezes and James Rossiter. The latter explains his team's goals for the race: "To have a clean race weekend, to go through all the processes with the team and to make sure that we continue to improve. We want to show the WEC, the world and all our fans exactly how hard we’ve been working on the 9X8 and on the project to go and conquer Le Mans in 2023."
Paul di Resta believes Peugeot needs to learn where the 9X8 stands relative to its competition: "The most important things are to evaluate our level of performance and how we all work together as a team. It’s just massively exciting seeing a car arrive for a proper race weekend on a track."
Mikkel Jensen: "Whenever Peugeot has been involved in endurance racing, it was with the clear goal to win. Yes, flat out or nothing. Full effort! It feels the same this time."
Will Team Peugeot TotalEnergies pull off the enormous feat of winning its first Hypercar race? Find out on Sunday 10 July!
