Team PEUGEOT TotalEnergies’ preparations for 2022 gain momentum

The new year sees Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ programme with the PEUGEOT 9X8 pick up speed as its development programme continues on the race track and simulator alike. The entry of two cars for the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship was announced officially on January 12, and the N°93 and N°94 PEUGEOT 9X8s will make their maiden race appearance in the course of the season. Until then, following the car’s initial run in December, Team PEUGEOT TotalEnergies returns to the track in January as its test schedule continues. But will that be with or without a rear wing?

Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ busy programme for 2022 is founded on its ongoing development work and commitment not only to world-class endurance racing but also to sustainable mobility.

Revealed last July, the 9X8 – PEUGEOT’s new hybrid hypercar challenger –-effectively faces an intensive calendar of track testing before it goes on to contest rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship, thereby marking the brand’s return to the discipline that saw it win the Le Mans 24 Hours with both the 905 and 908. This time around, it will compete in the LM Hypercar class.

DEVELOPPER

Avant même le premier engagement en compétition de la nouvelle 9X8, la course contre la montre est lancée pour le Team Peugeot TotalEnergies qui tient scrupuleusement son planning.

Plusieurs étapes clefs initiales ont été menées avec succès, notamment avec la conception et le développement au banc de la chaine de propulsion électrifiée :

– premiers essais au banc du moteur V6 bi turbo en avril 2021

– premiers essais au banc du moteur/générateur électrique 200 kW en novembre

– assemblage et tests de l’ensemble du powertrain sur banc en 4 roues motrices en décembre

– et pour conclure 2021, premier roulage de la 9X8

La campagne de développement va désormais s’intensifier en 2022.

L’équipe poursuivra ses recherches et validations en piste chaque mois comme en simulations. De prototype naissant, la 9X8 doit se transformer en voiture de course, fiable et compétitive, avec ses caractéristiques particulières. Ainsi, la 9X8 se présente toujours… sans aileron arrière.

« Le règlement Hypercar ACO/FIA l’autorise », rappelle Olivier Jansonnie, Directeur Technique programme WEC de PEUGEOT Sport. « Nos études en calculs et en soufflerie ont souligné la pertinence de ce choix. Les séances de roulage sur différents circuits, aux spécificités diverses, devront valider cette option, ainsi que les développements et réglages qu’elle nécessite ». Ingénieurs, mécaniciens et pilotes auront à cœur de réaliser ce programme désormais très concret.

Cette riche campagne de développement est primordiale, car à son issue, l’homologation de la PEUGEOT 9X8 sera déposée auprès des instances, et cette homologation sera valable jusqu’en 2025. Il est impératif d’arrêter le format idoine de l’Hypercar PEUGEOT pour rivaliser par la suite avec les plus grandes marques internationales aux 24 Heures du Mans et en Championnat du Monde FIA d’Endurance.

COMMITMENT

PEUGEOT’s commitment to both its race programme and sustainable mobility is geared to making a success of its approach to the indispensable energy transition.

The recently-published entry list for the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship includes two Team PEUGEOT TotalEnergies 9X8s. Their race numbers – 93 and 94 – are eloquent symbols for PEUGEOT, since the figure ‘9’ has long been associated with the brand’s most radical cars, while ‘93’ recalls the year the 905 claimed a landmark one-two-three triumph at Le Mans, and that number is obviously followed by ‘94’.

“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],” notes Stellantis Motorsport Director Jean-Marc Finot. “The 9X8 will make its race debut based on its level of readiness, reliability and competitiveness as agreed with the championship’s organisers who we will keep regularly updated as our development programme progresses. We could have opted for attending selected races only without committing to the season. That would have been possible but less coherent. Instead, we have chosen an approach that will enable the team to be fully immersed in the discipline, resulting in much closer collaboration with the organisers even if the 9X8 doesn’t contest every race as our development work and the homologation process continue.”

PEUGEOT’s endurance racing programme with the hybrid 9X8 mirrors the brand’s commitment to hybrid electric mobility. The electrification plan for its road car range stands out through the characteristics of the complete hybrid powertrain. Designed and developed entirely by Peugeot Sport, that of the 9X8 combines a rear-mounted 2.6-litre bi-turbo petrol V6 that delivers more than 500kW (680hp), a front-mounted 200kW motor-generator unit, all-wheel drive transmission and a high-density battery developed jointly by Peugeot Sport, TotalEnergies and its subsidiary Saft. The 9X8 consequently fits perfectly with PEUGEOT’s Neo-Performance strategy which is geared to both its road and racing cars delivering responsible performance.