Peugeot says a double points finish in the Fuji World Endurance Championship round doesn’t mean it has made a breakthrough, as the 9X8 2024 is still “not brilliant” on pure pace.
A strong final stint on fresh tyres propelled the #93 Peugeot 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar of Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller and Jean-Eric Vergne to fourth place in Sunday’s Japan event, just three seconds off the final spot on the podium.
It marked the first top-five finish for the upgraded 9X8 that debuted at Imola in April as well as the French marque’s best result in WEC since it finished on the rostrum with the previous version of the car in Monza last year.
But Peugeot’s technical director Olivier Jansonnie warned that the team shouldn’t get carried away with its showing at Fuji Speedway, as the result wasn’t representative of the car’s true speed.
“Look at the lap times, it’s still not looking brilliant in terms of pace, to be honest,” he said. “But we managed to compensate [for] that and get this P4.
“There is a bit of luck involved in that [as well], to be honest. We have been very unlucky in some races, [but] at some point it’s also changing [our way].
He added: “[The result] is a boost. We have been through some very hard times with no results, lots of pressure since Sao Paulo and Austin – especially Austin was a very bad race for us.
#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller, Jean-Eric Vergne
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“We always operate [on] the same [level]. This time we managed to align it with things and our competitors made some mistakes and that really helps.”
Both Peugeot entries were running outside of the top 10 at the midway point of the six-hour enduro, as the team focused on saving tyres for a late assault.
The strategy paid dividends when a stoppage for the Lamborghini SC63 in the penultimate hour reset the order, wiping out Peugeot’s deficit to the frontrunners and giving it a massive tyre advantage over its direct rivals.
Jensen was running 10th at the beginning of the final hour, having already completed his last pitstop by then, and was able to charge through the field to climb to fourth, passing the #12 Jota Porsche 963 of Norman Nato in the closing stages of the race.
Loic Duval, Paul di Resta and Stoffel Vandoorne claimed eighth place in the sister Peugeot, securing their first points finish of the year.
A collision between the #7 Toyota and the #5 Porsche Penske 963, as well as penalties for the #8 Toyota and the #35 Alpine, also contributed to their rise near the front.
Jansonnie said that it wasn’t easy for Peugeot drivers to make sacrifices in the early stages of the race in the hope of making a comeback later.
“[We are] happy with the strategy, we made a couple of gambles during the race,” he said.
“We knew we had saved more tyres than others in the [final] pitstops, so we just had a bit more pace at the end of the race. But it required some drivers at the beginning of the race to try to keep the tyres for the end.
“We still kept pushing on track even if the lap times were not coming because we knew that in the end, we would have fresher tyres.
“It was a big team effort and the performance of the drivers in the last stint was amazing as well. So in all, very happy with that.”