The French producer discovered that the change from the equal measurement 31cm extensive tyres and rear of the unique automotive to 29cm fronts and 34cm rears produced an even bigger than anticipated acquire on the upgraded 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar.
“Now we have determined to go for these tyre dimensions understanding that they had extra potential,” stated Peugeot Sport technical director Olivier Jansonnie.
“We discovered from testing that that they had much more potential than we anticipated from our simulation; this got here as a shock to us.”
Preliminary testing has confirmed that the positive factors with a automotive generally known as the 9X8 2024, which includes a rearward shift in weight distribution and new aerodynamics involving the addition of a traditional rear wing for the primary time, have made it much less delicate to totally different observe configurations.
That was the first weak spot of the primary iteration of the 9X8 that got here on stream in mid-2022: it proved aggressive at Le Mans and Monza final 12 months and Qatar this season, however struggled to various levels at different circuits.
“The quantity of efficiency acquire over the previous automotive will depend upon the observe structure, however it’s all the time quicker and higher with the brand new automotive when it comes to tyre administration and tyre consistency,” he defined.
He added that he expects the brand new automotive to “be extra sturdy” when it comes to efficiency over a spread of circuits.
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Picture by: Peugeot Sport
The change of tyre idea from 31/31 to 29/34 can even give Peugeot “extra potential for the years to come back” when it comes to growth, he continued.
The French marque aspires to be “combating for podiums and a few wins frequently” over the rest of the 2024 WEC, Jansonnie said.
The 9X8 2024, which is able to make its debut within the Imola 6 Hours on 21 April, has thus far accomplished between 7000 and 8000km since its maiden take a look at earlier than Christmas.
This has been accrued over the course of two endurance simulations at Paul Ricard and Aragon in preparation for the double-points Le Mans 24 Hours WEC spherical in June.
“We’re proper in the midst of the preparation season for Le Mans, and a lot of the testing we’re doing is endurance,” stated Jansonnie.
Le Mans final 12 months was one of many strongest races for Peugeot: it led the race with its #94 automotive shared by Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and Nico Muller was a constant frontrunner from Saturday night till simply previous the midway mark.
Jansonnie believes that the change in idea of the automotive is not going to diminish Peugeot’s possibilities at Le Mans this 12 months.
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Picture by: Peugeot Sport
“Our automotive idea, aero and tyres, was in all probability much less of a drawback at Le Mans than different locations,” he defined.
“We imagine we are able to obtain the identical efficiency with the brand new automotive as we had with the previous one.
“Other than efficiency there may be a lot you study from doing that race 12 months after 12 months.
“We learnt so much from final 12 months’s race: I feel we are able to carry that over with the brand new automotive and for certain be as robust at Le Mans this 12 months as final 12 months.”