Vergne Can’t Hide Frustration Amid Peugeot Struggles

Peugeot driver Jean-Eric Vergne was powerless to conceal his frustration after the French manufacturer qualified 14th and 15th for this weekend’s Imola round of the FIA World Endurance Championship with its revised 9X8.

In the first qualifying session for the 9X8 2024, which notably features a rear wing in a change of philosophy from its predecessor, Vergne and stablemate Stoffel Vandoorne both struggled for pace in the No. 93 and No. 94 cars respectively.

Vandoorne was 1.455 seconds off the pace set by Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco in the opening segment of qualifying, with Vergne a further tenth of a second back.

“Stoffel and I did good laps and there was not much more to extract from it,” said Vergne.

“The car felt decent, no major issues or bouncing, understeer, or oversteer. It’s the kind of lap that when you get out of the car, you think, ‘I don’t know how to gain two seconds’.

“When we started the program, we knew there were many areas to improve, but honestly in this qualifying there is not much we can do.”

Peugeot’s lack of pace at Imola comes amid wholesale changes to the Hypercar Balance of Performance for this weekend’s Imola race, with the 9X8 now the heaviest car in the field at 1061 kg, having run at a minimum weight of 1030 kg in Qatar.

Vergne and his teammates in the No. 93 car, Nico Mueller and Mikkel Jensen, enjoyed a competitive showing in the curtain-raiser, only losing out on a near-certain podium finish due to a late refueling issue.

“I’m not allowed to speak about it,” continued Vergne in a reference to the WEC’s sporting regulations that prevent drivers and team personnel openly discussing BoP changes. “I have a strong opinion, but maybe I should keep it for myself.”

Asked if the slump in performance from Qatar made it hard to stay motivated, he replied: “I find it [hard], yes. When you have a new car, a better car in every way…”

The first part of qualifying saw a red flag thrown following a spin for BMW driver Dries Vanthoor, which Vergne believes prevented him from improving his time.

But the French driver feels there was still no way he could have made the top 10 even without the interruption.

“I could have improved my time, but there was no chance to make the top 10,” he said. “I was maybe gaining two, three positions maximum.”

Asked for his hopes for the next rounds of the series at Spa and Le Mans, Vergne said: “It’s pretty obvious where the improvement should come from. All I can tell you is that the team did a fantastic job and I was happy with the car in qualifying.”

Despite struggling for pace in qualifying, Vergne remains hopeful that Peugeot can at least challenge for a top ten in the race with a smooth run.

“We can fight for points, and we’ll give it everything,” he said. “If we have a clean race, no issues, good strategy, then even though we don’t have the best pace, we have to push hard to try and extract the best from it.”