Peugeot has announced it will be competing in the top hypercar class in this season’s World Endurance Championship, alongside Toyota, Alpine and Glickenhaus. The new hypercars will be built according to a revised set of rules introduced in 2021, representing the biggest change to motor sport racing in many years.
The new hypercar regulations claim to offer a level playing field and lower costs for manufacturers. Cars must be an identical size and weight, and peak power output is restricted to 670 bhp. There are strict controls on development too, essentially ensuring that each car will be capable of the same level of performance and putting success in any individual race firmly in the hands of the drivers and their teams.
In theory, the new hypercar rules should enable manufacturers to cut costs while still using the championship to showcase advanced, road-relevant technology. This seems to be working. More manufacturers have been attracted to the grid, with Peugeot being the latest to confirm that they’ll be jumping into the fray for the 2022 season. It looks like Ferrari will also return to the championship in 2023, along with Audi and Porsche.
The 2022 World Endurance Championship will also have the cars running on a 100% renewable biofuel, set to reduce emissions by 65% compared to traditional fuel options. The new bioethanol fuel, Excellium Racing 100, will be supplied by TotalEnergies and is made from a combination of wine residues from the agricultural industry and Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE) produced at the TotalEnergies Feyzin refinery, near Lyon, France.
The six-part championship series starts in March in the US, with the 1000 Miles of Sebring race in Florida, followed by Eight Hours of Spa in Belgium in May. However, the highlight for many will be the Le Man 24 Hours in France in June. Peugeot has not yet confirmed which race they plan to make their debut in but have stated they are not aiming to be ready for the Sebring race, as they are busy focusing on further development work and testing.
Peugeot is signed up for the full season, but that means little as there is no single-race entry option for hypercar teams. While they will likely be aiming for Spa and Le Man, a lot will depend on when the two Peugeot hypercars are ready. The last three races of the season will be Six Hours of Monza in July, Six Hours of Fuji in September and Eight Hours of Bahrain in November.
Back in early 2021, Peugeot announced the driver line-up for their hypercar program, which included French drivers Loïc Duval and Jean-Eric Vergne, the UK’s Paul Di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Kevin Magnussen of Denmark and Gustavo Menezes from the US. Another UK driver, James Rossiter, was named as the team’s official reserve/simulator driver. It’s understood that the drivers have been working with the development team throughout the year to help complete this project.
