Peugeot 9X8 Will Not Attend First Race Of 2022 World Endurance Championship Season

As Peugeot continues the development of its Hypercar Class competitor for the World Endurance Championship, it has revealed that it will skip the series’ first race of 2022, the 1,000 Miles of Sebring that’s running from March 16-18.

“Team PEUGEOT TotalEnergies will not attend the first of the six rounds that make up the 2022 calendar which kicks off at Sebring in Florida [USA],” said Jean-Marc Finot, Stellantis’ motorsport director. “The 9X8 will make its race debut based on its level of readiness, reliability, and competitiveness as agreed with the championship’s organizers who we will keep regularly updated as our development program progresses.”

Finot notes that the team could have opted to attend select races only for the 2022 season, but said that would have been a less “coherent” approach. Instead, the team has chosen an approach that enables it to be fully immersed in the development of the car through collaboration with the series’ organizers.

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Already, the car’s engine, a twin-turbo V6, has been tested on the dyno, its hybrid system bench-tested, a test car assembled, and in December it had its first run on a real-life test track. Now, it has an intensive test regimen ahead of it to ensure it’s ready for competition.

Research and development work is happening on the simulator and monthly track tests will see the 9X8 transform “from a fledgling prototype into a competitive, reliable racing car.” So far, testing has confirmed Peugeot’s decision to run without a wing, a feature much talked about when the car was revealed in July 2021.

“Our calculations and wind tunnel work have confirmed the pertinence of our decision to run without a rear wing,” said Olivier Jansonnie, the technical director of Peugeot Sport’s WEC program. “Along with the developments and settings this option calls for, we expect it to be validated as we test at different circuits with differing characteristics.”

Before the team submits its final application for homologation, though, it wants to be sure that the 9X8 works perfectly. That’s because the documents will apply until 2025, making them extremely important.

When it does take on the competition, one of the 9X8s will wear the number 93, a reference to the year that Peugeot’s 905 won first, second, and third at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.