The French producer discovered that the swap from the equal-size 31cm-wide tyres of the unique automotive to 29cm fronts and 34cm rears produced an even bigger than anticipated achieve on the upgraded 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar.
“We’ve determined to go for these tyre dimensions figuring out that they had extra potential,” mentioned 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 aspects with a automotive referred to 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 point 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 achieve over the previous automotive will rely upon the observe structure, however it’s at all times sooner and higher with the brand new automotive by way of tyre administration and tyre consistency,” he defined.
He added that he expects the brand new automotive to “be extra strong” by way of efficiency over a variety of circuits.
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Photograph by: Peugeot Sport
The swap of tyre idea from 31/31 to 29/34 may also give Peugeot “extra potential for the years to come back” by way of improvement, he continued.
The French marque aspires to be “combating for podiums and a few wins regularly” over the rest of the 2024 WEC, Jansonnie acknowledged.
The 9X8 2024, which can make its debut within the Imola 6 Hours on 21 April, has to this point accomplished between 7000 and 8000km since its maiden check earlier than Christmas.
This has been accrued over the course over 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 many of the testing we’re doing is endurance,” mentioned 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 probabilities at Le Mans this 12 months.
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Photograph by: Peugeot Sport
“Our automotive idea, aero and tyres, was most likely much less of a drawback at Le Mans than different locations,” he defined. “We consider we will obtain the identical efficiency with the brand new automotive as we had with the previous one.
“Except for efficiency there’s a lot you be taught from doing that race 12 months after 12 months. We learnt so much from final 12 months’s race: I feel we will carry that over with the brand new automotive and for certain be as sturdy at Le Mans this 12 months as final 12 months.”
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