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.”

READ MORE: Ferrari sweep podium with dominant 1-2-3 at Qatar

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Theo Pourchaire has joined the Peugeot Sport FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar team as a test and development driver.

The 21-year-old Frenchman has joined the Hypercar squad after participating in the post-season WEC Rookie Test in Bahrain.

Pourchaire took to the wheel of a Peugeot 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar on the day after the 8 Hours of Bahrain finale.

With Malthe Jakobsen stepping up to a full-time seat for the 2025 season, Pourchaire has taken his place as a junior driver in the team.

Pourchaire said: “I am very excited to join Peugeot Sport as a development driver for the upcoming season; this is an incredible opportunity.

“I see it as a fresh start, as endurance racing is a new challenge for me.

“I really enjoyed the Rookie Test in Bahrain, which went very well.

“The Peugeot 9X8 is a very powerful car, unlike anything I’ve driven before.

“Endurance cars are highly advanced and cutting-edge in terms of technology, making them similar to Formula 1 cars.

“Being a test driver is a fantastic opportunity, and I’m grateful to Team Peugeot TotalEnergies for offering me this chance.

“I can’t wait to begin this new role.”



Technical director of Peugeot Sport, Olivier Jansonnie, added:
”We are delighted to welcome Theo Pourchaire to Team Peugeot TotalEnergies as a development driver.

“During the Rookie Test in Bahrain, he demonstrated great potential and an in-depth understanding of our car’s unique features.

“Theo brings a fresh perspective thanks to his single-seater experience, which is a valuable asset for the development of our endurance program.

“We are eager to work with him and fully integrate him into our team.”

A new chapter for Pourchaire in sportscars

Pourchaire never drove a sportscar before he joined Peugeot in Bahrain.

He established his motorsport career in single-seaters.

In 2023, he became the FIA Formula 2 champion and participated in selected outings in the 2024 IndyCar season.

Pourchaire will participate in private testing sessions and contribute to the technical development of the Peugeot 9X8.

During the second round of the now-completed 2024 season, Peugeot unveiled a heavily revised 9X8 which most notably featured a rear wing.

He will also be in a position to step in should a regular WEC team driver be unavailable for a race.

At the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, a Formula E clash prompted the team against using an additional pair of hands.

Nevertheless, Pourchaire has taken on his newfound role as a solid entry point into top level sportscar racing.

READ MORE: WEC releases 2025 provisional entry list featuring newcomers

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Olivier Jasonnie said that it was disappointing not to stand on the podium after Ferrari were penalised for exceeding their tyre allocation.

Peugeot’s World Endurance Championship programme technical director told media about the disappointment to not celebrate their only podium of the 2024 season.

He said: “It’s a shame for us but it’s also a shame, frankly, because I think it would have been a different end to the race, not only for us.

“The pace is the most dictated by the amount of tyres you are using.

“… If we just look at us, we’ve been constantly slow in the beginning of the race because we’re trying to save tyres and then faster by the end because we have fresh tyres.

“I think that we probably underestimated how big the difference between the two cars [pre- and post- new 2024 car].

“And what we have to learn again on this new car took us some time. We are finally getting there.

“We thought we could transfer much more data from the old car but it was pretty different.

“… By the time we are running this car more and more on different tracks, we now see where the weaknesses are.”

Peugeot’s podium pursuit from last place

The #93 Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar and co-drivers Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller and Jean-Eric Vergne took the manufacturers’ first podium of the season.

AF Corse lost their second place finish with the #51 Ferrari 499P Hypercar.

They received an additional two-lap penalty for exceeding the 26-Michelin tyre allocation which pushed the #51 down to last in the Hypercar running order.

Nico Muller’s lap times in qualifying were deleted after he exceeded track limits so started in P18 – last place.

The race featured two virtual safety car periods which enabled both Hypercar and LMGT3 classes to close up.

Given the hot and humid conditions in Bahrain, combined with the eight-hour race duration, tyre management was key during the race.

Hypercar teams experimented with changing only left-side tyres – which undergone the most stress – whether it was between the medium or hard slick tyre compound.

Peugeot were denied a podium when they ran out of fuel at the Qatar 1812 km season-opener, although that was the final race with the previous ‘wingless’ 9X8.

The 2024 season finale marked the first podium for Peugeot with the new car, having scored their previous season-best finish of fourth at Fuji.

READ MORE: Peugeot’s Jansonnie: Tyre dimension size change necessitated rear wing addition

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Peugeot’s Jean-Eric Vergne set the fastest lap in the final practice session of the FIA World Endurance Championship season in Bahrain.

Onboard the #93 Peugeot 9X8, the Frenchman set a 1:49.443 lap time early on with no one else able to beat it through the session.

Yifei Ye was second fastest in the satellite #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, with the Chinese driver just over two tenths off Vergne. Again, he set the lap early as the track surface heated up during the hour of practice.

Daniil Kvyat was a surprise third in the #63 Lamborghini SC63, around six tenths off Vergne in the Peugeot, with a 1:50.014

Paul di Resta was fourth in the sister #94 Peugeot, just 14 thousandths of a second off Kvyat.

And Mick Schumacher was fifth quickest in the #36 Alpine A424, but was more than a second off the session-topping Vergne.

That means none of the championship contenders — manufacturers or drivers — were in the top 5. The two factory Ferraris were sixth and seventh, with the two Toyotas 11th and 13th. The two factory Penske-run Porsches were 12th and 15th, as everybody gets ready for qualifying in a few hours time, but crucially all on different run plans.

Manthey lead the way in LMGT3

In LMGT3, Alex Malykhin was quickest in the #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3.R with a time of 2:03.987.

Second was Arnold Robin, onboard the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3, less than a tenth off Malykhin. 

Third was Francois Heriau in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, just within a tenth of Malykhin as well.

Fourth and fifth were the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, and the #82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3R.

The session ran cleanly except for two brief full course yellows, lasting five minutes in total, but no major off-track incidents occurred throughout the hour.

Qualifying begins at 4pm local time or 1pm GMT in the UK.

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Peugeot’s Paul di Resta was quickest in the opening free practice session for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 8 Hours of Bahrain.

A warm and sunny Bahrain International Circuit welcomed the WEC for the eighth and final round of the 2024 season.

The ambient temperature in the 90-minute session was above 30 degrees Celsius and the track surface hit 40.

Peugeot looked promising from the green flag as Paul di Resta set the outright pace in his #94 9X8 Hypercar.

His teammate Jean-Eric Vergne of the #93 Peugeot was initially third position before dropping to fourth.

Likewise, AF Corse begun with both Ferrari 296 LMGT3s in the top-three after they took their first win of the season at the previous Fuji round.

A full-course-yellow was deployed with 25 minutes remaining of the relatively drama-free session to test the system.

Peugeot sets promising start in Bahrain

By the end of the session, di Resta set the quickest pace with a 1:50.837.

Frederic Makowiecki took second place in the #5 Porsche Penske 963 with a 1:50.886, followed by Antonio Giovinazzi’s #51 Ferrari 499P.

The Ferrari driver set a 1:51.041 narrowly ahead of the #93 Peugeot 9X8, which was fourth owing to Vergne’s time of 1:51.052.

Laurens Vanthoor rounded out the top-five in the Hypercar class for the #6 Porsche Penske with a 1:51.116.

Kelvin van der Linde topped the LMGT3 category in the #78 Akoddis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3 with a 1:02.079.

AF Corse’s Alessio Rovera put the #55 Ferrari in second after he drove a 2:02.342 lap time ahead of Iron Lynx’s Matteo Cairoli.

The #60 Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2 ran a fastest time of 2:02.818 to take third.

AF Corse’s #54 Ferrari took fourth with Davide Rigon’s lap time of 2:03.037 as Proton’s Ben Barker rounded out the top-five.

The #77 Ford Mustang LMGT3 driver set a 1:03.060 having driven exactly 15-minutes in the session.

Free practice 2 will commence at 5.30pm local time or 2.30pm GMT.

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Peugeot have selected Theo Pourchaire and Clement Novalak to pilot their 9X8 at the FIA World Endurance Championship Rookie Test in Bahrain.

The annual Rookie Test has taken place since 2015 and is typically held one day after the final round of the season.

Round 8 of the 2024 WEC will conclude next month on 2 November with an eight-hour race, as the test will follow on the next day.

Pourchaire is well known for his single-seater career as the 2023 FIA Formula 2 champion and as a driver in selected IndyCar races this year.

Meanwhile Novalak, at 23-years-old, is two years older than Pourchaire and transitioned from Formula 2 to sportscar racing for 2024.

Olivier Jansonnie, technical director of Peugeot Sport, said: “For Team Peugeot TotalEnergies, these Rookie Tests in Bahrain bring a fresh perspective, even though reconditioning the cars after the race requires a lot of work from the entire team.

“It is always very motivating and rewarding to see young drivers arrive with wide eyes, discovering the team, the car, etc.”

“We selected two different profiles.

“Theo is single-seater oriented with an already impressive track record and is recognised as one of the single-seater hopefuls.

“Clement has more endurance experience with notable results in ELMS, particularly a 2nd place in LMP2 at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“His statistics in this discipline impressed us. I think it’s an interesting combination.

“They will be guided by Paul di Resta and Malthe Jakobsen, who also went through this process before being appointed full-time next season. It is always very interesting for us to get technical feedback from fresh perspectives.”

Pourchaire’s first taste of sportscars

Jakobsen took part in 2022 and 2023 during his role as a development and reserve driver as the Dane will make his WEC debut in Qatar next year on 28 February.

Pourchaire, the youngest winner in Formula 2 history, said: “I am very happy to be able to drive the 9X8 with Team Peugeot TotalEnergies in Bahrain.

“It will be a new experience for me as it will be the first time I drive an endurance car, a Hypercar.

“It’s almost a different sport for me, completely different from what I was used to in Formula 2, as a reserve F1 driver, or in IndyCar.

“I’m excited to discover the FIA WEC World Endurance Championship.

“I think it’s a dream for every driver to be able to race in this championship one day, especially with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is the greatest race in the world.

“Having this first experience in endurance racing is fantastic, and I’m looking forward to returning to Bahrain, a circuit I particularly love.

“It’s a great track with a very powerful car, and it’s an amazing opportunity.”

“It’s an important step in my transition from single-seaters to endurance racing,” added Novolak, who races in the European Le Mans Series and took second place in LMP2 at his Le Mans 24 Hours debut earlier this year.

“I couldn’t dream of a better team, given its incredible history in the discipline, to make my debut in the Hypercar category.

“I’m really looking forward to learning as much as possible from such an experienced team during what promises to be a very formative and enriching day for me.”

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Mikkel Jensen was delighted to earn Peugeot’s best result so far in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season at the 6 Hours of Fuji.

The #93 Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar driver grasped fourth place at the 6 Hours of Fuji and finished just 3.25 seconds behind the #36 Alpine A424 in third.

In fact both Peugeots, the #93 and #94, finished 10 places higher than where they started.

Jean-Eric Vergne begun the #93 from 14th, as Loic Duval did so in the sibling Hypercar in P18.

Jensen described his final stint in the #93: “It was a big fight on track, and I was pushing hard to stay on the lead lap.

“I had no idea what my position was.

“I overtook the (#35) Alpine, my tyres were shot, but I kept going at the same pace.

“I’m super happy with this 4th place, it’s a great result for Team Peugeot TotalEnergies.”

During an action-packed race, safety car periods kept the Peugeots within reach of the points threshold.

They struggled in qualifying and not necessarily asserted the strongest pace during the six-hour race.

Vergne begun the race with a significant portion of driving, before Nico Muller took over, followed by Jensen to the end.

Furthermore, Peugeot contended with tyre management and cunningly saved a set for the final stretch to the checkered flag.

“We knew it would come down to the end of the race,” added Olivier Jansonnie, Technical Director of Peugeot Sport.

“We had saved new tyres for the final stint, and it worked.

“It was a race full of twists, with many collisions, full course yellows, and safety cars.

“We are happy with what we accomplished, even though we still lack a bit of pace.

“Maybe we didn’t have the most competitive car, but we made the most of it with our strategy.

“Some of our drivers had tough stints, having to push the tyres to their limits, but they delivered a great team result that I’m very proud of, at every level of the team.

“It’s been tough since Austin, and this race was difficult to prepare for, so this result rewards everyone’s commitment.

:I’m very pleased with this outcome.”

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Malthe Jakobsen will make his full-time FIA World Endurance Championship debut in 2025 for the Peugeot Sport Hypercar team having taken on the role of reserve driver this year.

Peugeot’s young Dane will make his FIA WEC debut next year at the age of 20, likely replacing Nico Muller who is expected to commit to another team in Formula E.

His rise on the sportscar ladder gained attention when he dominated the 2022 European Le Mans Series, having taken all LMP3 pole positions before going onto win the championship.

More recently, he found success in the 2023/24 Asian Le Mans Series having taken the title in LMP2 machinery.

Jakobsen said: “I’m delighted to join Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ as official driver in next season’s FIA World Endurance Championship.

“I’m very proud to have been part of this team for the last two years, first as junior driver and then this year as reserve driver.

“Thanks to all the team for giving me this great opportunity.”

Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot Sport WEC Technical Director, added: “Malthe has shown that he has not only the talent, but also the attitude and the work ethic needed to succeed at the very top level of motorsport.

“We are looking forward to seeing what he contributes to the team in 2025, as we continue to develop our programme.”

Jean-Marc Finot, Stellantis Motorsport Senior VP, said: “We are very pleased to offer Malthe a seat in our WEC team for the 2025 season.

“As part of Stellantis Motorsport’s strategy for promoting talented young drivers, Malthe has shown constant progress and a lot of maturity.

“His promotion is the next logical step in his career and we are convinced that he will be an asset to the team in the Peugeot 9X8.”

Jakobsen participated in the 2022 and 2023 FIA WEC Rookie Tests in Bahrain as a junior driver for Peugeot, as well as having undertaken substantial driving time in the simulator and at the 9X8 testing sessions as they debuted a new-for-2024 car at Imola.

Furthermore, he drove for Cool Racing at the 2023 and 2024 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a higher result in the former at P2 in the LMP2 Pro-Am category alongside co-drivers Alexandre Coigny and Nicolas Lapierre.

He also made his presence twice at the 24 Hours of Daytona during the past two editions, having taken second in the LMP3 category followed by the same position in the LMP2 category.

if Jakobsen is set to simply replace Muller’s seat, then he would compete in the #93 Peugeot 9X8 with teammates Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne, although Peugeot has yet to officially confirm their 2025 driver lineups in the #93 and #94 Hypercar entries.

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Peugeot team boss and VP of Stellantis Motorsport, Jean-Marc Finot, told media that Peugeot are ‘heading in the right direction’, as they are a second quicker than they were at Le Mans last year.

“If we compare the lap time with the last year, despite the car is a heavier and less powerful, we are one second faster than we used to be last year. So it’s in the right direction,” said Finot to reporters after the qualifying session for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, which decided who will compete for pole in Thursday’s Hyperpole session.

Jean-Eric Vergne qualified the #93 Peugeot in 16th place, setting a 3:26.195. Last year, his teammate Mikkel Jensen set a 3:27.260 in the same session — so over a second quicker.

Furthermore, this year Vergne was 1.760 off the session-topping time from BMW’s Dries Vanthoor. Last year, Jensen was 2.047 seconds away.

Peugeot introduced a brand new car at the second round of this year’s round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Imola. While it is still named ‘9X8’, the vast majority of the car and its aero surfaces are new.

The major changes to the car were new tyres sizes, 29-inch at the front and 34-inch at the back, replacing the 31-inch tyres all round. The French squad also added a rear wing, to rebalance the car after the tyre dimensions were changed.

‘This is the first time with this car on this track. So we still have some work on the setup to do in FP2, FP3, and FP4. We will use these free practise sessions to optimise the pace for the race,’ said Finot.

As can be expected, the team were not happy with the pace of the car, but Finot did point out it’s very close in front of them.

So, of course, we are not happy with the pace, we would have loved to be faster,” said the Frenchman.

‘However, it’s still very close because we are just at 1.7 seconds in P16. We already have 12 cars in just one second. 

‘But we have we don’t have to forget that Le Mans is a very long, long track, at least, twice more than all the tracks. So it means that once again, it’s 0.4 on the track. So it means that the Hypercar class is a very competitive. The cars are very close.’

Both Vergne and his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne, in the #93 Peugeot, set their laps early and did not better them through the session, with traffic management being an issue, Finot said.

‘We made our best lap time at the beginning. Despite the improvement of the car, we have been bothered by the traffic, we did not manage well.

‘Two times JEV [Vergne] has been stopped. And Stoffel [Vandoorne, driver of the #94 Peugeot] one time also has been stopped. in his fastest lap, but that’s the gap on the risk,’ he concluded.

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Peugeot’s Paul Di Resta told reporters at a team media briefing in the week preceding the 24 Hours of Le Mans that the lack of tyre warmers in FIA World Endurance Championship competition, and in particular for Le Mans, which takes place this weekend, has brought a great deal of uncertainty to the race.

“[It brings] massive uncertainty,” said the Scot.

“This tyre is clearly not developed to be a tyre that should be started from cold. It was developed from a tyre that should have been heated.  I understand removing tyre warmers and what they want to achieve, but at the same time, the speeds arriving at T1 versus a tyre starting from cold, the unpredictability and how big these cars are — it’s quite hard.”

Di Resta races the #94 Peugeot 9X8 alongside Loic Duval and Stoffel Vandoorne. The French squad has recently introduced a new car, which added a rear wing and different size tyres to the ‘old’ wingless 9X8.

“I would have liked a bit more development, in the sense of making sure you had a tyre that you felt in control of,” di Resta continued. 

“I don’t think any driver would say the ever feel in control when the tyre is cold in a Hypercar, because the rubber just takes time to switch on and that’s generally with heat.”

However, at Le Mans, getting heat into the tyres is hard when you come out of the pits on new cold tyres, as di Resta explained.

“The biggest thing is you need is speed, and you don’t get the speed in sector one here.

“When you come out the pits, that’s the bit that’s going to be hard. You need speed quickly. There’s no possibility to even get speed because you’re not in a straight line, anywhere, you’re constantly turning. Even when you get on the Mulsanne, I’m not so sure you you want to pin it because it’s that uncertain.”

How fast it takes to get the tyres up to temperature depends on two external factors: temperature and compound. As such, this could influence what tyres the teams run at in cooler conditions, which then affects strategy throughout the race.

“It depends on the temperature,” said the 38-year-old. 

“Depends on what compound you’re on as well. You’re kind of forced into certain compounds depending on the temperature, and it’s not like you can take the easier compound because then that overheats.”

The Scot, who was raised in Uphall, 14 miles from Edinburgh, believes WEC were too hasty in removing tyre warmers.

“Personally, I don’t think it was ready for it. The tyre’s not up to speed yet.

Until you can go out there and confidently say you don’t feel kind of unsafe because it is very unpredictable. 

“I can tell you, from experience in winter testing, it can be quite awful during the night and during the mornings, just to feel like you’re in control of the car, because you don’t have that.”

Di Resta’s final point of the conversation around tyre warmers was the almost hypocritical regulations.

“These cars are heavy now. When they go, they go, and they’ve not got a lot of downforce either. One thing that kickstarts a tyre is downforce, but the regulation doesn’t have downforce — but it’s heavy.”

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