Peugeot Targeting Imola Debut for Updated 9X8

Peugeot is targeting the race debut of its updated 9X8 LMH car for the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship season at Imola according to technical director Olivier Jansonnie.

Jansonnie confirmed to reporters during a pre-season media call that the French manufacturer will start the 2024 campaign in Qatar with last year’s wingless 9X8, as widely expected, prior to a pre-Le Mans debut with the heavily updated Hypercar class contender.

The updated car, which had been spotted testing at Paul Ricard last month, will then complete the WEC season, which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

Per FIA and ACO technical regulations, LMH manufacturers are permitted to roll out mid-season updates granted the car receives re-homologation approval prior to its debut race.

“The time frame is actually trying to be ready for racing in Imola,” Jansonnie said.

“So that means doing the first championship race in Qatar with the 2023-spec car and then bringing the 2024-spec car in Imola, which means we have to finalize homologation by the end of March in order to be ready on time to be homologated.”

Jansonnie said it was “never a possibility” to run the updated specification of the 9X8 for the first round of the championship, as Peugeot did not want to rush the new car into service before it was fully ready.

“We knew from the start that it would be impossible,” he said.

“The reason is that, in the end, this homologation process we have now, when you actually do a new homologation or you do a joker, you need to do it completely.

“You can’t just do half the job. You have to do it fully and that takes time. Make sure you maximize the effect of your Joker you’re somehow spending out of your five available jokers.”

He went on to explain that a significant amount of the changes made to the 9X8 for its third season of competition are the result of a switch in tire dimensions.

Peugeot is set to abandon its previous concept, which had it run 31 cm Michelin tires on both the front and rear axle and is set to adopt the narrower front tires (29 cm) and wider rear tires (34 cm) that are more common across the WEC’s Hypercar class.

“Most of the changes we’re making are just to accommodate the tire dimensions,” Jansonnie said.

“First, we need to move the weight distribution on the car. Our car was designed to run at a very forward weight distribution because of the 31 [cm] tires.

“So we’ve got to move it back somehow, which means we need to have some lighter parts on the car, move some ballast over to try to move the weight distribution and then obviously retune the aero balance on the car.

“That’s the second biggest part of the package is to try to get an aero balance on the car that matches the new tire dimension. Everything is actually driven by the tire choice we are making now, which is different from the one we had before.”

When asked directly if any other ‘Evo Jokers’ were used to with regards to powertrain development, Jansonnie replied:

“Obviously, we don’t want to disclose too many details about what we’re doing exactly on the Jokers, but one Joker is one chapter of the homologation.

“It’s this way. If you want to change something to your powertrain, you can use one Joker for the transmission, one Joker for the engine, this kind of thing.

“So we’re obviously very careful what we’re doing as well. We know we all have a limited amount of Jokers. We have five Jokers, by the configuration of the homologation.

“So we’re trying to restrict the scope of what we’re doing to the very essential points for performance in our case.”