Peugeot cited a smooth reliability run for their 9X8 Hypercars at the Qatar 1812 km, the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season-opener.
They more or less contended for the top-10 in the highly competitive 18-strong Hypercar category throughout the whole 10-hour race.
This resulted in P9 (#93 Peugeot) and P12 (#94 Peugeot) finishes as the latter Hypercar incurred a penalty which dropped them outside the points-threshold before the checkered flag.
They evidently contended for the race victory last year before running out of fuel, though this was with the previous ‘wingless’ version of the 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar.
Jean-Marc Finot, Senior VP of Stellantis Motorsport, said: “The two cars finished, and they were very reliable in this 10-hour race, which is a positive point because we had to rebuild #94 before qualifying.
“We extracted the maximum from the package we had during the race and took advantage of all opportunities and safety cars to reposition ourselves in the standings.
“I am very proud of the work of the entire team this week.
“Now, we need to find a bit more pace to more regularly compete for the top spots.”
“It was a pretty complicated race, and very tight in the middle of the pack,” added Olivier Jansonnie, Technical Director of Peugeot Sport.
“Losail is a circuit that doesn’t degrade tyres much, so no issues with the tyre quota here.
“However, the track changes a lot, and we had to find the right tire combinations depending on the conditions, while trying to outmanoeuvre the competitors within our reach and make the best use of the safety cars to keep both our cars in the lead lap as long as possible.”
Tyre management still key amidst interruptions at Lusail
Ten interruptions spread across the virtual safety car, safety car and full-course-yellow periods during the race on 28 February.
Many of their Hypercar rivals raced together as manufacturers, like Peugeot, with the exception of Cadillac after their two JOTAs dramatically collided with one another.
Apart from the brand new Aston Martin Valkyrie, all other Hypercars demonstrated fair reliability during the race.
Jean-Eric Vergne qualified the #93 Peugeot in 10th place as Loic Duval was 12th for the #94 and both Peugeots comfortably ran within the top-10 during the race.
Loic Duval’s hard battle with Michael Christensen’s #5 Porsche Penske 963 resulted in a drive-through penalty within the penultimate hour of the race.
Mikkel Jensen, one of the co-drivers in the #93 Peugeot, explained the track evolution’s effect on tyre management:
“I did a first double stint of more than two hours.
“Between day and night, temperatures dropped, and the track evolved a lot.
“It was hard to know whether to use hard or medium tyres at that point.
“We chose to run hard on the left and medium on the right.
“We weren’t the fastest on track, but we stuck with it to stay in the top-10 and on the lead lap.”
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