Peugeot “A Bit Disappointed” Missing Out on Brazil Top Five

Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie expressed disappointment at missing out on a top-five finish in the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo at the end of what he described as a “perfect” race for the French marque.

The two Peugeot 9X8s enjoyed a competitive outing during Sunday’s fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship season, running solidly inside the top-ten and scoring the team’s best finish of the season to date.

Despite that, Jansonnie admitted a level of disappointment at not finishing in the top-five, with the No. 94 car of Loic Duval and Malthe Jakobsen losing out to the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 in the closing stages.

Speaking to reporters post-race, Jansonnie said there was ‘nothing Peugeot could do’ to match the pace of the pair of Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.Rs as well as the leading Porsche Penske Motorsport entry, but stated that fifth was a “reachable” objective for the French squad.

“Overall, we knew that the Cadillac would be very strong,” he said. “We had hoped that they would be a little bit less strong in the race, to be honest. They were very surprising anyway, that’s for sure, in terms of pace.

“From the very start of the race, you could see there were three cars that were literally flying and nothing we could do to catch them.

“I believe overall, fifth was reachable for us, and we were a bit disappointed of getting only sixth in that respect, without any major mistake. The rest of the race was perfect actually.”

Jansonnie cited a combination of factors as to why Duval was left vulnerable to Sheldon van der Linde’s No. 20 BMW at the end of the race, with the South African quickly closing on the No. 94 Peugeot and passing it with relative ease.

“It worked out in two steps in the end,” he said. “First, we had to shorten a bit our second stint on both cars to try to preserve a little bit of tires.

“We had quite a big degradation on tires, more than we expected. And by the end, we knew that we would have longer stints and more fuel to put into the car, which would explain why.

“Then, on top of it, we’ve been very unlucky again with the Full Course Yellow not coming at the right time, which starts to be a bit annoying to be honest. We lost quite a lot, especially with car 94 at the end.”

Jansonnie drew a comparison with May’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, where Peugeot’s potential went unfulfilled, while describing the Sao Paulo race as “just perfect” in terms of execution.

“It’s been the same kind of competitiveness as we had in Spa as well,” he said. “The last two race races, besides Le Mans, we are quite competitive, which is obviously a very sad thing in that respect.

“In Spa, we didn’t execute very well, made some mistakes on the pit wall, had a contact in the race. Whereas here, the operation and execution was just perfect.

“The race didn’t [present] too many opportunities; it was a completely green race. No safety car, no virtual safety car. So all in all, it was just the pace of the car that made a difference for everybody.

“For us the only regret we have is that I think we would have deserved this fifth position in the end. A bit disappointed [with] getting only sixth, but that’s what it is.”