Written by Aaron Carroll, Edited by Umut Yelbaşı
2024 was a season of change for Peugeot in the World Endurance Championship, the team hoping their new, upgraded 9X8 Hypercar could make the waves its predecessor couldn’t.
However, the new car — finally featuring a rear wing — didn’t have as much success as the French marque would have liked. They ended the year in sixth place in the manufacturers championship, and 12th and 28th in the drivers championship, with just one podium to end of their year.
The team’s No. 93 car featured Nico Muller, Jean-Éric Vergne and Mikkel Jensen, Loïc Duval, Paul Di Resta and Stoffel Vandoorne piloting the No. 94.
Qatar
This experienced driver lineup wasn’t able to enjoy the upgraded 9X8 from the get go, with the team opting to use the old spec car in the first round at Qatar.
With the 2023 car showing good pace, this proved to be a beneficial decision, giving the engineers more time to develop the new 9X8.
Both cars progressed into the Hyperpole shootout, where the No. 93 ended up in sixth and the No. 94 in tenth after good laps from both cars.
With race pace from practice on Thursday and Friday looking positive, all at Peugeot were optimistic and hoping to start the year off well.
As the green flag waved to signal the start of the new season, the No. 93 shot up the order and took the lead just before the half hour mark, battling for the win right until the end. It was a decent start for the sister car too, however disaster would strike for the No. 94 as it had to be wheeled into the garage with a battery issue.
All hopes of a good result were now on the No. 93, which was sitting in second place as the clock ticked down towards zero. But as Jean-Éric Vergne rounded the final corner on the penultimate lap, disaster struck as the car slowed and ran out of fuel just 5.4 kilometres from the end.
Vergne managed to limp around the final lap on electric power from the hybrid engine and crossed the finish line right before coming to a stop on the main straight. To add insult to injury, the No. 93 was later disqualified for not returning to the pits or parc ferme under its own power, breaching the regulations.
This fuelling error cost the French team their best ever finish in the World Endurance Championship and broke hearts throughout the team.
Imola
Coming off the back of the disappointment in Qatar, the French team hoped to turn fortunes back in their favour with the arrival of the new 9X8 in time for Imola, sporting a striking new livery and the rear wing that its predecessor lacked.
Teething issues were to be expected with a new car. 14th for the No. 94 and 15th for the No. 93 in qualifying wasn’t the best result for the team.
Fortunately, the race wouldn’t be too bad: While the No. 94 finished 15th, the No. 93 climbed up to ninth after six hours and scored two points for the team.
More importantly, both of the new 9X8 cars finished their first race, an achievement to be proud of for everyone at the team.
Spa-Francorchamps
At the next race in Spa, both cars ran two-driver lineups, with both Jean-Éric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne racing in Formula E that same weekend.
Any hope that this would prove more efficient was crushed quickly, with a 14th place qualifying result for No. 93 and 16th for No. 94. At the end of the race, the No. 93 was down one lap in tenth place and the No. 94 was 14th, down two laps.
After the underwhelming performance in a race with long stoppages and plenty of action, the No. 93 sat 13th in the standings with the No. 94 yet to score a single point from three races.
Despite being off the pace compared to all the frontrunners, the 9X8 at least seemed to be very reliable, both cars finishing both of their races up to that point with minimal issues. Their true test would be at the next race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Le Mans
In qualifying for the “jewel in the crown” of the WEC calendar, Peugeot’s distinct lack of pure pace was apparent again, the No. 93 down in 15th and No. 94 in 20th.
Once the green flag dropped on Saturday afternoon and the race got underway, both Peugeots managed well to stay out of trouble early on in the race.
Right as the sun was rising on Sunday morning, Nico Muller ran wide and hit the barriers at the Indianapolis corner, luckily avoiding major damage, with the car able to continue the race.
With an uneventful rest of the race, the two Peugeots came home in 11th (No. 94) and 12th (No. 93) - narrowly missing out on points. While the results may not have been positive, the team once again showcased their cars' brilliant reliability.
São Paulo
Qualifying for the next race in São Paulo wouldn’t be an improvement either: 16th for the No. 94, ahead of the No. 93 in 17th.
The race would yield a decent result for the No. 93 squad who would finish eighth, but the No. 94 remained in 16th. The story leaving São Paulo would be much the same as the rest of the season: not the quickest, but reliable.
Texas (COTA)
As the WEC paddock rolled into Texas for the Lone Star Le Mans, we saw extreme conditions on track with track temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius during the race.
Starting 11th and 15th, the pair of 9X8’s would be put through their paces in these scorching conditions.
The No. 93 held up fine during the race, finishing 12th, but the No. 94 would fall victim to the first reliability slip from the new 9X8.
With two hours remaining, the car suffered an issue with its hybrid system and was forced to wheel into the garage to call it a day, marking the first retirement for the updated car.
Fuji
Hopes weren’t high heading into the next race in Fuji, a situation which was made worse by a poor qualifying performance, 14th for No 93 and 18th for No 94.
However, when the race rolled around, it proved to be the French team's best performance of the season so far.
With 90 minutes left to the end, the No. 94 and No. 93 found themselves in 11th and 13th after avoiding much chaos earlier in the race.
Over the next hour and a half, both drivers cut through the field to end the race with the No. 93 in fourth, just three and a half seconds off the podium, and the No. 94 in eighth.
Everyone at the team was undoubtedly over the moon with this result which would provide a massive morale boost before the final round in Bahrain.
Bahrain
Before the 8 Hours of Bahrain, another distinct lack of pace for both cars in qualifying brought everyone back down to Earth. A 15th place for No. 94 and 18th for No. 93 was a tough result for a team coming off the back of a double points finish in Fuji.
The car would find its pace again in the race, with both cars climbing up the order. With just a couple of hours left on the clock, the No. 94 came to a stop on the side of the track with a ‘high voltage issue’, putting all hopes on the No. 93.
After eight hours of racing, once the chequered flag was waved, the sole remaining Peugeot would find itself atop the final step of the podium, the first time with the new 9X8, thanks to some good strategy calls from the team and brilliant driving, marking the team’s best result in WEC.
Despite reliability tainting a good race in Qatar, and an unmistakable lack of pace for the majority of the season, Peugeot ended the season with a fourth and third overall in the final two races.
Morale will be high heading into the off-season, with work still to be done for that final push to reach the top step of endurance racing.
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