WEC | Peugeot attacks the BoP: “We have been treated unfairly”

Peugeot feels unfairly treated by the governing bodies of the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship, indirectly attacking the Balance of Performance assigned to its Hypercar.

Jean-Marc Finot, the French manufacturer’s head of motorsport, told Motorsport.com in Spa that “my feeling is that we are treated unfairly”, not mentioning the BoP, because the series’ sporting regulations expressly prohibit Constructors, teams and pilots to talk about it.

But the upshot of his comments is that Peugeot believes its updated 2024 9X8 should have received a weight reduction for its second WEC appearance at Spa last weekend.

“We’ve spent a year trying to improve the car and we don’t see the effect on the track or in our results. This is very difficult to understand and is very bad for team morale.”

The new version of the 9X8 was not competitive on its debut at Imola in April and received no help from the BoP ahead of last Saturday’s 6 Hours of Spa, instead receiving a weight increase of 4kg and a power reduction of 2 kW (2.5 hp) before the third round of the WEC in Belgium.

This was in accordance with a realignment of the BoP for the Ardennes which resulted in only minor changes for all cars in the Hypercar class, except for the Ferrari 499P LMH, which after Imola had a 12kg increase in minimum weight and a power reduction of 4 kW (5 HP).

But the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, which co-organises the WEC with the FIA, reiterated a key component of the new BoP methodology introduced for 2024 in response to Finot’s comments.

“The BoP process includes a window, and if a car goes beyond this performance we slow it down quickly – explained club president Pierre Fillon – But if a car is below, then we will react much more slowly, to avoid people hiding” .

The technical director of Peugeot Sport, Olivier Jansonnie, described the result in Spa as disappointing, despite the better of the two 9X8s finishing in the points with 10th place.

“We’re quite disappointed with the car’s performance. We knew from the start, from Free Practice 1, that it would be quite difficult here, to be honest, but we were hoping to be a little bit closer than what we showed today.”

Jansonnie pointed out that at Spa the 9X8 was fast in the first and last sectors, which faithfully replicate the sections of the Circuit de la Sarthe at Le Mans.

“We hope we can show better pace at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It’s very different in terms of design.”

Finot refused to make any predictions for Le Mans, avoiding talking about the BoP: “There is something I can’t talk about that will be different for Le Mans, so I can’t make any predictions.”