The French producer discovered that the swap from the equal-size 31cm-wide tyres of the unique automobile to 29cm fronts and 34cm rears produced a much bigger than anticipated acquire on the upgraded 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar.
“We’ve determined to go for these tyre dimensions figuring out that they had extra potential,” mentioned Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie.
“We discovered from testing that that they had much more potential than we anticipated from our simulation; this got here as a shock to us.”
Preliminary testing has confirmed that the beneficial properties with a automobile often called the 9X8 2024, which includes a rearward shift in weight distribution and new aerodynamics involving the addition of a standard rear wing for the primary time, have made it much less delicate to completely different observe configurations.
That was the first weak point of the primary iteration of the 9X8 that got here on stream in mid-2022: it proved aggressive at Le Mans and Monza final yr and Qatar this season, however struggled to various levels at different circuits.
“The quantity of efficiency acquire over the outdated automobile will rely upon the observe structure, however it’s all the time sooner and higher with the brand new automobile by way of tyre administration and tyre consistency,” he defined.
He added that he expects the brand new automobile to “be extra sturdy” by way of efficiency over a variety of circuits.
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Photograph by: Peugeot Sport
The swap of tyre idea from 31/31 to 29/34 may also give Peugeot “extra potential for the years to come back” by way of growth, he continued.
The French marque aspires to be “preventing for podiums and a few wins regularly” over the rest of the 2024 WEC, Jansonnie said.
The 9X8 2024, which is able to make its debut within the Imola 6 Hours on 21 April, has to this point accomplished between 7000 and 8000km since its maiden check earlier than Christmas.
This has been collected over the course over two endurance simulations at Paul Ricard and Aragon in preparation for the double-points Le Mans 24 Hours WEC spherical in June.
“We’re proper in the midst of the preparation season for Le Mans, and a lot of the testing we’re doing is endurance,” mentioned Jansonnie.
Le Mans final yr was one of many strongest races for Peugeot: it led the race with its #94 automobile shared by Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and Nico Muller was a constant frontrunner from Saturday night till simply previous the midway mark.
Jansonnie believes that the change in idea of the automobile won’t diminish Peugeot’s possibilities at Le Mans this yr.
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Photograph by: Peugeot Sport
“Our automobile idea, aero and tyres, was most likely much less of an obstacle at Le Mans than different locations,” he defined. “We imagine we are able to obtain the identical efficiency with the brand new automobile as we had with the outdated one.
“Except for efficiency there’s a lot you study from doing that race yr after yr. We learnt quite a bit from final yr’s race: I feel we are able to carry that over with the brand new automobile and for certain be as robust at Le Mans this yr as final yr.”
