Electrifying The FIA World Endurance Championship, The Peugeot 9X8’s Competitive Debut

Delivering top-drawer reliability and performance in an intensely high-calibre field, the Peugeot 9X8 Hybrid Hypercar makes its racing debut this summer.

The FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) as the battlefield, Team Peugeot TotalEnergies is set to electrify the track with two cars adorning race numbers 93 and 94.

Forecasted to arrive after the 2022 edition of the 24H of Le Mans, observers are already excitedly describing the Hypercar era as a new ‘golden age’ for Endurance racing.

According to the brand, the end of winter and this spring have been dedicated to development work, with the team, drivers and car conducting simulations and tests. 

These are all done ahead of the 9X8’s final homologation by the FIA, which will freeze its technical characteristics until 2025. 

Elaborating further on its homologation process, Olivier Jansonnie, technical director of Peugeot’s WEC programme explained it as such.

First off, every Le Mans Hypercar must be homologated to be permitted to race, and after which its design may not be modified further until 2025.

However, it is exceptional in cases governed by strict conditions. For instance, under specific force majeure circumstances such as when the car’s safety or reliability is compromised. 

So, any such modifications that happen in said time period are counted as ‘EVO jokers’, which are limited to just five between 2021 and 2025.

Limiting development in this way is vital, as it is not possible to adjust the performance of a car that is subject to constant technical updates through ‘Balance Of Performance’ (BoP) tweaks. 

Notably, the homologation process itself consists of a series of milestones. Its schedule and execution are very precisely defined. 

In short, the process concludes with the submission of a homologation file that describes in minute detail all of the vehicle’s components with photos and weight measurements.

Other than that, it also includes a wind tunnel test of its aerodynamics and an inspection of the vehicle by the FIA/ACO. 

After this, its development is ‘frozen’. Its performance parameters are subsequently assessed in order to be able to adjust its power, weight and minimum speed of hybrid energy deployment.

Then, a manufacturer judges that its car is ready to be homologated when it believes it has attained the level of performance and reliability to be eligible for ‘Balance Of Performance’ evaluation.

Meaning, it is to say that the vehicle has the same theoretical chance of winning in the WEC and at the Le Mans 24 Hours as any of its competitors.

Accepting from this point that its vehicle is not able to undergo any further major technical changes until the end of the homologation cycle.

That being said, the scheduled debut date is to provide Peugeot’s team with the time needed to achieve the necessary level of reliability.

For obvious reasons, it would not have been possible to enter the Le Mans 24 Hours without first contesting the preceding WEC race, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on May 7. 

Needless to say, both operationally and from a reliability perspective, Le Mans is the most difficult race on the calendar. 

Therefore, Peugeot plans to begin with some shorter races, which in turn allow them to progressively get up-to-speed in the championship. 

Overall, Jansonnie concluded that with Peugeot, akin to their road-going cars when they have to choose between meeting a deadline or focussing on quality, the latter is always prioritised.