Jansonnie: Peugeot Focused on Reliability in Winter Tests

Peugeot’s focus during the winter before its first full FIA World Endurance Championship season has been on reliability according to the manufacturer’s LMH technical director.

The Peugeot 9X8 made three WEC appearances last year but encountered different car problems in each race which resulted in neither entry finishing on the lead lap.

Peugeot completed an endurance test at Paul Ricard just before Christmas to address some of the issues in preparation for the 1000 Miles of Sebring in March.

Technical chief Olivier Jansonnie told Sportscar365 during a video call with reporters that the team has worked on solutions for better reliability, without detailing any changes.

“The most important [thing] is that we tried to make some progress on all the issues we had concerning the reliability of the car,” he said.

“That’s all the weak points we found in Monza, Fuji and Bahrain last year. We tried to work on this and make sure we bring some solutions for that.

“I think that’s the most important, even before we look at the performance of the car.”

Jansonnie explained that Peugeot adjusted its approach to private testing, turning its sessions into simulations of WEC rounds to get more out of them.

“There is stuff we discovered on the car, and from the team operation as well,” he said, referring to last season’s outings.

“All of this we are trying to improve now in our tests, trying to mimic race conditions as much as we can. What we discovered in those races is to run the car in proper event conditions, and not just testing.

“When you start, you tend to organize your time during tests on technically doing as much as you can.

“But during events you have constraints: timing, mainly, and you have to deliver the performance at the right time, which was difficult for us in those three races last year.

“We learnt a lot from that and hopefully we will be better prepared for Sebring.”

When asked if Peugeot has made updates to its LMH car to improve how it drives, Jansonnie indicated that most of the work has been related to setup adjustments based on Peugeot’s experience of testing at different circuits.

“This will come with the mileage we are doing,” he said. “Over the winter, the focus has been on reliability. This has been very important for us. We made some good progress on that.

“When you start solving some issues, you discover some new ones. That’s the whole purpose of what we are doing: trying to push the limit of the car’s reliability.

“We are still finding issues, which is good in a way. Only at Sebring we will know how good our preparation was.”

Vandoorne Reserve Role Input “Very Valuable”

Peugeot recently signed 2021-22 Formula E world champion Stoffel Vandoorne as its LMH reserve driver, following James Rossiter’s switch to a team management role in the electric series.

Vandoorne turned his first laps in the Peugeot 9X8 at Motorland Aragon last week. He was initially due to take part in the WEC end-of-season rookie test last November but withdrew due to appendicitis.

“We have to involve him in the testing because it’s very valuable for us in terms of feedback,” Jansonnie said.

“He has a huge experience, so it’s very interesting for us to give him some mileage on the car.

“But on top of that, he’s our reserve driver. If any driver is sick or unavailable, he must be able to jump in the car and race. So we must give him some mileage. We are just starting with him.”

Jansonnie added that it’s “too early” to read into whether Vandoorne’s recruitment as the reserve driver forms part of a plan to include him in the future race lineup.

Vandoorne is connected to the Stellantis group, which owns Peugeot, through his Formula E drive with DS Penske.

“It was quite natural for us to ask him to fulfill this position,” Jansonnie explained.

“We know we can count on our drivers across all the programs we are running. To know if there is something more than that, it’s too early to tell, I would say.

“First we need to check how we can make it work with his current schedule. He is very busy, which is a very positive sign for a race driver. We must see for this year how we can handle that.”