The presentation of the Peugeot 9X8 in the 2024 version immediately caught the eye of the biggest innovation introduced by the House of Lion, namely the infamous rear wing.
Since its debut in 2022, the French Hypercar had stood out for its singular shapes and the absence of the aerodynamic appendage, which throughout the paddock of the FIA World Endurance Championship had been labeled as the main problem of lack of competitiveness.
In reality, the transalpine technicians have always strenuously defended their innovative aerodynamic concept, pointing out instead that there were other problems that afflicted the 9X8, born and raised on a regulation that was changed during construction.
With the introduction of the updates, which required a redesign of 90% of the bodywork, Peugeot Sport is now convinced that it can compete against all its rivals in the Hypercar Class, starting with the 6h of Imola. And without having to hope for help from those who manage the championship.
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Photo by: Peugeot Sport
“The main factor that led to the decision to change the car is to depend less on the Balance of Performance and to do something that brings us much closer to our rivals, in terms of car concept. This way we can get back into the window of performance regardless of what is decided with the BoP”, said the Technical Director of Peugeot Sport, Olivier Jansonnie, speaking to journalists after the presentation of the new 9X8.
“We are still convinced that it was possible to balance the old 9X8 concept, but unfortunately it was not done in 2023, and we wanted to get rid of this dependence on the BoP, so as not to depend on a specific track layout or particular conditions, including weather conditions “.
“We wanted to bring the car back into a 'medium' performance window and more similar to the competition, and increase it on an overall level so as not to end up with maximum power and the lowest weight like Qatar.”
“We expect the overall pace of the grid to increase and many of our rivals to push even harder for performance. We need to be ready for this and ensure we have some potential for the years to come.”
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Photo by: Peugeot Sport
At Peugeot they immediately highlighted that the main problem with the first version of the 9X8 was linked to the tyres, rather than the absence of the wing; a fact linked to the first draft of the Hypercar regulations which then underwent changes when the project was in an advanced state.
While other manufacturers were switching to different tire sizes, in France they were now planning to fit the same 31″ front and rear ones.
“At the time, the only data we had to evaluate this difference were Michelin's simulation models. For our part, we had not carried out any tests and had not correctly compared the dimensions of the two tires.”
“We had identified a lead of 29/34, but it had clearly been underestimated and the model was telling us that the gap was much closer than what we found when we did the first track test ourselves.”
“In the end we said to ourselves that the tires were not the same, but that it was possible to balance the car using an intelligent BoP. If you look at what happened in Qatar, it is clear that there is a solution for all this.”
“But if we think about 2023, we struggled for most of the season due to tire size, which was particularly highlighted on tracks with low-speed corners. This was clearly our big weakness.”
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Photo by: Peugeot Sport
So the 29″-34″ solution was adopted for the 9X8 2024, in order to adapt to the rest of the grid and have that something that was missing, also in light of the data collected in recent years.
“We decided to adopt this tire size knowing that it had greater potential. During testing we discovered that it was even higher than what we expected from our simulations; it was a surprise!”
“The extent of the performance gain compared to the old car will depend on the layout of the track, but with the new one we manage to be faster and better in terms of tire management and consistency.”
“The move from 31/31 to 29/34 will give us more potential for the years to come in terms of development. We are in the middle of preparing for Le Mans and most of the testing we are doing is endurance testing.”
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Photo by: Peugeot Sport
It is then inevitable to talk about the rear wing, finally mounted today, but according to Jansonnie it is not the main problem with this car. Indeed, some regret of not being able to see her in action in the remaining matches remains because according to the French coach not all of her potential has been expressed.
“Looking back to when we made the decision to develop this new car in March 2023, it was obvious that the only way to get out of the trap we found ourselves in was to use the same tire size as our competitors, to achieve a position of BoP similar to theirs”.
“In Qatar we were able to extract everything possible from the wingless car in terms of performance, continuing with the original 9X8 would not have been the right thing to do even after such a show of strength.”
“Our feeling remains that it was possible to do it on most tracks, but unfortunately we will never know this. The question mark remains as to whether what happened in Qatar could be replicated on other circuits.”
“Probably yes, although we don't have proof of that. But even then it would have been a very risky bet on our part, because it meant relying a lot on the BoP, which hasn't been very successful for us so far.”
Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8
Photo by: Peugeot Sport
Finally, Jansonnie does not hide his ambitions ahead of Le Mans, with the old 9X8 having performed well on the Circuit de la Sarthe in the 2023 edition before running into technical problems; the updated version should also be competitive, also thanks to the lessons learned from the past season.
“Our car design, in terms of aerodynamics and tyres, was probably less disadvantageous at Le Mans than at other tracks.”
“We are convinced that we can achieve the same performance we had with the old car with the new one. Apart from this, there are many things you learn from doing this race year after year.”
“We learned a lot from last year's 24h: I believe that with the new 9X8 we can do just as well and certainly be as strong at Le Mans as in 2023.”
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