Peugeot is pulling the ripcord: Although the 9X8 has achieved respectable successes in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) – not least thanks to favorable ratings since the 24 Hours of Le Mans – after initial difficulties, the Le Mans hypercar will receive a rear wing for 2024. This is reported by numerous media from different countries.
LMH cars may be further developed with up to five so-called Evo-Jokers during their homologation period. Peugeot now wants to make use of this. The process will be complex because the Le Mans Endurance Management, consisting of FIA and ACO representatives, has to reclassify the car.
Peugeot announced the abandonment of the rear wing when presenting the vehicle in summer 2021. This unique selling point was subsequently exploited in terms of marketing, including with the slogan “We didn’t want a rear wing”. The downforce should be generated entirely on the underbody.
But physical realities quickly caught up with Peugeot. The current 9X8 already received two small wing elements in the style of the Ferrari FXX on the rear fenders. The Bolide has been driving in this configuration since the first test drives in winter 2021/22.
After the WEC debut in Monza 2022, Peugeot initially struggled with technical problems for a long time, some of which continue to this day. The hour-long lead and a problem-free drive over 20 hours at Le Mans were already considered a great success, and at the 6 Hours of Monza the first podium finish was achieved by Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne.
But the 6 Hours of Fuji was a setback. Although the fairly smooth Fuji Speedway suited the Peugeot 9X8 concept on paper and the hybrid activation speed was reduced from 150 to 135 km/h (other LMH: 190 km/h), the Peugeots, like Ferrari, suffered from the surprising weakness of the LMH -Boliden minus Toyota. In addition, there were again technical problems with a vehicle.
Now follows a new aerodynamic concept with a conventional rear wing and a probably smooth underbody. This means that the Peugeot 9X8 should be competitive on all routes in the future. Due to the concept, moguls like Sebring are not suitable for the vehicle because with higher ground clearance, less contact pressure can be generated on the underbody.
Last 13-inch car
Another question will also be exciting because Peugeot is an outsider in the WEC in several respects. Of course, the rear wing is the unique selling point. But Peugeot also takes a special approach to tire size, which is no longer provided for in the regulations. This also explains the lower hybrid activation thresholds.
The Peugeot 9X8 runs on 13-inch (330.2 millimeters) wide tires all around. This is how the Le Mans hypercars were originally developed. The Toyota GR010 Hybrid also followed this philosophy in its first iteration in 2021.
However, in the summer of 2021, convergence between LMH and LMDh vehicles was announced. Among other things, this led to the Le Mans hypercars losing power dramatically. And since the LMDh cars also have the hybrid boost on the rear axle, the regulations with activation speeds for the boost in all-wheel drive vehicles from the WEC 2012 and 2013 had to be taken out of the drawer.
This means that the concept of four 13-inch tires is actually obsolete, as the front tires no longer have to work as hard. Toyota has already switched to the concept with 12.5 inches (317.5 millimeters) at the front and 14 inches (355.6 millimeters) at the rear for the 2022 season.
Peugeot, on the other hand, followed the original LMH regulations when developing the 9X8. When the LMH-LMDh convergence was announced in July 2021 and the option for 13-inch wheels was removed from the regulations, Peugeot had already finished development. An alignment with the competition would therefore also make sense in this area.