Peugeot is supportive of the direction the World Endurance Championship is taking with the next Hypercar regulations, but the French manufacturer believes it is still too early to confirm its involvement in the category beyond 2029.
Committed to endurance racing through 2029, Peugeot welcomed Friday’s announcement by the ACO and the FIA regarding the evolution of the Hypercar regulations. However, the French manufacturer is not yet ready to commit beyond its current confirmed timeframe and believes several areas still need to be clarified.
“I think it is very positive to have a message about the future,” said Olivier Jansonnie, Stellantis Motorsport director. “It means people are looking after the category not only for next year, but also for the following years, up to 2030. As for convergence towards a single platform, it is one solution among others.
“We are open to studying this possibility. Several rounds of discussions have taken place with manufacturers ahead of today’s presentation. Some points still need to be discussed globally. There are aspects that we support.”
The proposed evolution of the regulations, which still needs to be refined and later ratified by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, aims to converge the LMH and LMDh platforms into a single technical base, while still allowing manufacturers either to design everything in-house or rely on suppliers.
#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Stoffel Vandoorne, Nick Cassidy
Photo by: Marc Fleury
“Convergence makes sense from a regulatory standpoint,” said Emmanuel Esnault, Peugeot Sport team principal. “Now the key is to find the right balance between the two platforms. It is simpler from a regulatory perspective. And it also opens up potential cost-saving opportunities.
“But everything is still open, there are many milestones to reach. Because everyone has different agendas, with major corporate manufacturer programmes, but also niche manufacturers relying on private teams and a chassis partner. Alongside Toyota and Ferrari, we are the only ones building the car from scratch. It is a complicated challenge, and these factors need to be taken into account.”
As it stands, Peugeot does not yet have all the elements needed to make a final decision on the future of its Hypercar programme beyond 2029. The priority remains preparing for the next three-year cycle with a car capable of fighting at the front, as the 9X8 appears more than ever to be reaching its limits.
“It is extremely clear that we need to develop our car,” admits Jansonnie. “We are fully aware of that and we are mobilising all our resources and means to achieve it.
“You do not win without performance, so we need to be competitive. We are fully aware of this and we are focusing all our efforts in that direction. This will be reflected in the coming months and over the next year.”
