Lone Star Le Mans: a tough time for Team Peugeot TotalEnergies as racing resumes in Texas

–        The no. 93 PEUGEOT 9X8 finished twelfth whilst the no. 94 car retired for the first time since her debuts in the World championship

–        Team Peugeot TotalEnergies was racing at the Circuit of The Americas for the first time and experiencing the extreme conditions in Texas with track temperatures exceeding 50°C

–        Team Peugeot TotalEnergies will now focus on round seven of the season in Japan, held in two weeks’ time

It is safe to say that the stars did not align for Team Peugeot TotalEnergies at the Lone Star Le Mans (6 Hours of COTA). Despite a brilliant start to the race by Nico Müller (no. 93 PEUGEOT 9X8), who made up five places in the early stages and then remained in the top ten during his double stint, the French team had to settle for 12th place after six hours of racing, contested in front of some 65,069 fans.

Luck was once again not on Peugeot’s side, as the no. 94 PEUGEOT 9X8 collided with a fellow competitor at the start and picked up a puncture on the rear left-hand tyre, before being handed a drive-through penalty midway through the race. The hybrid system then packed up with two hours to go, resulting in the first retirement of a 2024 version PEUGEOT 9X8 this season. It’s only the first DNF for the no. 94 car since his debuts in the World championship.

“It was a really tough race today,” summarised Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot Sport Technical Director. “There isn’t an awful lot of positives to take from the weekend, other than perhaps our performance in qualifying where we missed out the Hyperpole by two hundredths and the no.93’s start to the race. We were short of pace after that and we perhaps didn’t make the best calls on tyres. I would like to thank the team for their hard work during the test sessions and in the race. The Lions have already switched their focus to Japan and the 6 Hours of Fuji, which is due to take place in just two weeks’ time.

Jean-Marc Finot, Stellantis Motorsport Senior VP

“We spent most of the race with just one car, since the no. 94 fell out of contention very quickly and then suffered a technical issue, which we will need to analyse. The no. 93 car made a good start, moving up to sixth place, but it lacked pace after that. We need to keep working to get into the top ten and then set our sights on the top five.”

Nico Müller (no. 93 PEUGEOT 9X8)

“It was a difficult race for us in terms of outright pace, especially when it was very hot. We were a bit better in the closing stages, but we lacked performance.”

Stoffel Vandoorne (no. 94 PEUGEOT 9X8)

“We had a tough start with a collision on the first lap and then a puncture on the rear left-hand tyre. We made a few mistakes on tyre choice for my first stint. It was better on my second stint but we were a long way back by then. It was a disappointing weekend; we were never really in the fight.”

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Discover our vidéos of Austin race : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SFiFuUnnwI