Toyota “Can’t Underestimate” Peugeot on Debut

Toyota Gazoo Racing says it can not afford to underestimate Peugeot at the French marque’s FIA World Endurance Championship, with Alex Wurz describing the team as ‘real competitors’. 

Wurz, who works as a motorsport advisor with Toyota, is uniquely qualified to recognize Peugeot’s endurance racing prowess.

He was part of the crew that took overall victory in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving the diesel-powered 908 HDi FAP and also won the 2011 Le Mans Series title before leaving to join Toyota.

The Austrian, who said that “quite a few guys are actually the same” from the LMP1 days, said he was happy to see Peugeot return to the top level of endurance racing, but has warned his team against underestimating his former employer.

“First of all I’m a competitor in spirit and mind and so is Toyota,” Wurz told Sportscar365.

“We want competition. We joined ten years ago to compete against the greats of sports car racing.

“Unfortunately they left, but we are really happy that they are coming back and that we are going to have a lot of manufacturers.

“In this case, Peugeot is one of the first movers here with the Hypercar joining, so I’m happy for the competition and I know they are real competitors because I have been with them.

“I have seen how they work and so I am telling my guys you really can not underestimate them and no one underestimates Peugeot in this team.

“They are good guys, so we just have to be better. It’s quite simple.”

Jose Maria Lopez, who worked under what is now the Stellantis Group banner previously in both WTCC and Formula E, said he anticipated the two 9X8s to get up to speed quickly during the weekend.

“They’ve been running a lot. They’ve been preparing. I don’t know if it is the same people, but I know them a little bit from my past with Citroen.

“I know what they are capable of and I also worked with them with DS in Formula E. They are very capable.

“We expect them to be very good and maybe they can even be quicker already. Because looking at the BoP with the numbers, they are a bit better.

“We really expect them to be good from the beginning. It’s also what the BoP does, try to make them competitive straight away.”

Wurz also reckoned that the current, Balance of Performance-managed nature of WEC’s top category could be a contributing factor to Peugeot’s debut performance, as all cars should be fairly level on paper.

“In normal, old school motorsport I would give them some learning time because it’s tough, it’s difficult,” Wurz said.

“But in this new school racing with Balance of Performance, they are basically instantly put into the same performance we are put.

“We are not running to the maximum capacity of our car because we are adjusted in performance to the competition.

“This is the new reality so therefore in theory Peugeot or any newcomer will instantly be put into the same performance envelope.

“So then it’s maybe more down to operational inefficiencies, which are normal at the beginning of a project.

“Slower pitstops, strategic calls, no reference to last year’s time, maybe in racing they find out they have more aero issues compared to running by themselves, whatever it might be.

“But the performance window should be the same so that’s why we definitely don’t underestimate them.

“Because in theory, if they are reliable, they should have the same lap times as us. So will the drivers figure out the traffic management as quickly as ours?

“Maybe they apply a high risk level and therefore might be faster.

“We don’t know yet, so that now makes the sport a very different way of thinking, also for the fans at home. Because in theory everyone should be same pace.”

Lopez: Peugeot Presence Could Impact Title Battle

Lopez, who currently sits fourth in the Hypercar championship standings after finishing second at Le Mans, reckons that Peugeot’s added presence to the class at Monza could also play a role in the ongoing championship battle.

As a full-season entrant, Peugeot is eligible to score championship points this weekend, despite missing the first three rounds of the season.

Potentially, more cars in the class could mean losing more points in case of a lowly finish.

“That can be positive or negative,” Lopez said. 

“It opens the game more. If we are competitive and we manage to win and our sister car, Alpine or Glickenhaus are separated by the Peugeot and [lose] points to them, of course it is better.

“But it could happen to us. We could be the ones losing points.

“If they wouldn’t be here, it would be harder, I would say, because if they don’t have a DNF, you know that the other cars are going to finish third or fourth and score points even if they don’t weekend.

“Now, if you don’t have a good weekend, you are going to lose more points.”