WEC News: Peugeot unveils new 2024 9X8 silhouette

After a first full season in the FIA World Endurance Championship, including an encouraging performance at Le Mans and a maiden podium (3rd) at Monza, and having spent much of the opening race of the 2024 season at the front in Losail, the PEUGEOT 9X8 has been fitted with several substantial upgrades as it looks to play a leading role this year in what is set to be an incredibly competitive Hypercar class featuring nine manufacturers and nineteen prototypes.

In its initial version, the PEUGEOT 9X8 was designed using a set of specifications that met the technical regulations drawn up in 2020/2021. However, between the design phase of the car and its competitive bow in the summer of 2022, the regulations changed, opening up the potential for improving performance in certain areas. Some design settings were therefore revised in order to maximize their potential and meet the ambitious targets set by Team Peugeot TotalEnergies.

“We made choices that are no longer the right ones now and this difference in performance was not sufficiently offset by the BOP (Balance of Performance) in 2023,” explained Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot Sport Technical Director.

“The idea was therefore to go back to a car design that is similar that of our rivals car design, so that it would then be given equivalent treatment by the BOP. This is why we decided to drop the use of identical 31/31cm tire widths on all the wheels, choosing to fit 29cm tires at the front and 34cm tires at the rear.

“Strictly speaking, it’s not a new car, as it has the same chassis, but there are a lot of upgrades. For the tires to work effectively, we had to alter the center of gravity of the PEUGEOT 9X8, which meant moving certain components and working making others lighter.

“And in order to have a better aerodynamic balance, we also had to look at redistributing the aerodynamic loads, which resulted in us redesigning approximately 90% of the bodywork components, most notably adding the rear wing. As well as all this, we decided to use this new homologation to add some reliability and performance upgrades to give us the best opportunities in the championship.”

The decision was taken in March 2023 to introduce some radical upgrades to the car for the 2024 season. Everyone at Peugeot Sport worked tirelessly to redesign the car at the same time as taking part in the 2023 WEC campaign. “It was a project within a project, which increased the team’s workload substantially,” continued Olivier Jansonnie. “But we were able to rely on the unwavering commitment of Team Peugeot TotalEnergies and we’re now really looking forward to showing off the result of their hard work. The target is clearly to get back among the front-runners, fight regularly for podiums and even challenge for race wins.”

These upgrades also provided an opportunity to pursue the working relationship begun four years ago with Peugeot Sport: “After an elegant, understated design to mark PEUGEOT’s return to Endurance racing in 2022, then the 2023 livery produced by the visual artist Demsky, celebrating both the Centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 30th anniversary of PEUGEOT’s one-two-three at Le Mans, this time we came up with a design that deploys the ‘lion head’ in different scales,” detailed Matthias Hossann, PEUGEOT Brand Design Director. ”This graphic design, symbolizing a ‘pack of lions’, conveys the sense of collective that reflects the values of Endurance racing perfectly.

We wanted to highlight this team spirit and the wealth of talent in the team. The design is produced in different sizes and different colors taken from the Peugeot Sport color chart, including black, gray, white and kryptonite. This theme is equally deployed on the lifestyle merchandising products developed by PEUGEOT’s graphic design team.”

After making its final appearance at the Qatar 1812km, the opening round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship – which confirmed the progress made by Team Peugeot TotalEnergies – the 2023 version of the PEUGEOT 9X8 is now set to make way for the 2024 version at the 6 Hours of Imola, round two of the FIA WEC season, on 21 April. It was, of course, at Imola’s Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari that PEUGEOT scored a stunning one-two finish back in 2011…

Linda Jackson, Brand Chief Executive Officer of PEUGEOT

“2023, the first full year of Team Peugeot TotalEnergies competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, was a rewarding experience for the everyone involved as the team took shape, and showed its determination and passion, even though there were difficult times. For 2024, the target is still the same, to win races! We know that the competition will be even tougher this year but our team has worked very hard to develop a 2024 version of the PEUGEOT 9X8 that reflects the values of the brand perfectly. The energy and the effort put in by Team Peugeot TotalEnergies has been invaluable. We are proud to be part of this new era in Endurance racing and we want to leave our mark on the sport.”

Jean-Marc Finot, Stellantis Motorsport Senior VP

“First and foremost, I would like to congratulate and thank the entire Peugeot Sport team for its excellent work. It really is no small feat to have been able to redesign part of the car in record time whilst managing to compete in the 2023 season. The PEUGEOT 9X8 was originally designed to meet the 2020/2021 regulations when the LMHs had to be fitted with equally-sized tires at the front and rear. The regulations have evolved since, enabling some of our rivals to fit larger tires at the rear. We had thought that the BoP would be enough to offset our structural design handicap, but this has not been the case. It was therefore necessary to redesign part of the car to adapt it to the new tire dimensions. We had to shift the car’s center of gravity, alter the distribution of the aerodynamic loads, add a rear wing, produce lighter components, and so on. Our simulations and initial track testing sessions have shown that the car has more performance. We therefore hope to stay among the front-runners without however getting close to the BoP limit, with minimum weight and maximum power.”