Vandoorne: Peugeot 9X8 ‘The Nicest it Has Felt’ at Lusail

Stoffel Vandoorne says the Peugeot 9X8 is “the nicest it has felt so far” around the newly-refurbished Lusail International Circuit after an encouraging showing in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Prologue test.

The 9X8 is set for its final race in its current wingless configuration in this week’s Qatar season opener before the arrival of a significant upgrade package, including a much-vaunted rear wing, in time for April’s second round of the season at Imola.

But the French marque enjoyed a competitive showing in the two-day Prologue, with Vandoorne notably setting the second-fastest time of Tuesday’s third session in the No. 94 Peugeot, behind only Frederic Makowiecki’s Porsche Penske Motorsport entry.

The two Peugeot crews ended up ninth and 10th overall across the test, with Vandoorne’s lap of 1:41.260 narrowly eclipsing Jean-Eric Vergne’s best effort of 1:41.311 in the No. 93 car.

Speaking after the final session of the Prologue, Vandoorne described the Qatar curtain-raiser as an “opportunity” for Peugeot, with the radical 9X8 concept suiting the freshly re-laid asphalt at Lusail particularly well.

“I think our car probably suits this circuit better than other tracks because of the smoothness,” he said. “Especially with the concept that we have and the ride height control, it helps to have a smooth track and keep operating the car in a nicer window.

“Having driven this car on quite a few occasions in testing [at different tracks], it’s felt the nicest it has been so far.

“We need to see this race as an opportunity with so many new cars on the grid and new teams that have their usual gremlins. We need to focus on doing everything right operationally, which is an advantage we have from the last one-and-a-half seasons of preparation.

“It’s the last race for this [configuration of] car, but we still want to extract a good result out of it.”

Vandoorne added the layout of the Lusail track, made up mostly of flowing medium-speed corners, is also helping by masking the 9X8’s weaknesses in slow-speed turns.

“It’s a medium-to-high speed track, so the issues we’ve been complaining about, there’s less of those type of corners,” he explained. “Getting out of the corners is less of an issue, because you carry a lot of speed through them.

“We are less in the zone where we really struggle, let’s say. Together with a smooth track, it gets us a nicer feeling.”

Vergne, meanwhile, was slightly more cautious about Peugeot’s chances of fighting for a top result at Lusail, although he said that the track opener could offer the manufacturer one of its best chances of the season.

“The smooth surface is definitely helping us,” said the French driver. “We are not big fans of bumps with this car. In that respect, for sure it makes the car nicer to drive and more predictable.

“It’s a special track being this smooth. We’ve never had a track this smooth anywhere. If it’s the best track for us, I wouldn’t be surprised, for that [wingless] car in particular.

“I think a lot of people are hiding their pace, so we’ll see where we are. We’ll just do the best job possible, avoid mistakes, and be irreproachable.”