Peugeot Sport Narrowly Misses Hyperpole at Imola WEC Qualifying
In the highly competitive world of the FIA WEC, Jean-Eric Vergne and the Peugeot Sport team delivered a valiant effort to secure 15th position in the opening qualifying session at Imola, narrowly missing the Hyperpole final by five places. Speaking to Autosport, Vergne emphasized that his team had extracted the maximum potential from their car, leaving no room for improvement.
“We did a very good job as a team and got the most out of the car,” Vergne said. “Without the red flag, we might have gained two or three-tenths, but it wouldn’t have been enough to make it into Hyperpole. It was one of those moments where you step out of the car and wonder what you could have done differently to go faster.”
The Peugeot 9X8 2024 Le Mans Hypercars demonstrated a notable gap of 1.5 seconds from Antonio Fuoco’s pole-winning Ferrari 499P LMH in the initial 12-minute session. This gap widened to over two seconds as Fuoco improved by seven-tenths in the 10-minute Hyperpole session. Stoffel Vandoorne narrowly outpaced Vergne, securing 14th place with a 1m31.651s lap time, just a tenth faster than Vergne’s 1m31.748s.
Vergne’s comments imply that the Balance of Performance (BoP) for the revised 9X8, making its debut this weekend in Italy, still requires fine-tuning. This sentiment is echoed by Peugeot Sport technical boss Olivier Jansonnie, who expressed surprise at the BoP for the 9X8 at Imola, describing it as “tough.” Jansonnie emphasized that Peugeot trusts in the processes of the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest.
Moving forward, Vergne stressed the importance of executing a flawless race in Sunday’s Imola 6 Hours.
“Our job tomorrow is to finish the race and say we’ve done everything right – made the right calls, had good pitstop strategy, and as drivers made no mistakes, been good on tyre management, and aggressive when we needed to be. We have to take this race very seriously because the day we have a car to win, we need to be ready and perfect. We’re going to try to race perfection tomorrow regardless of where we end up.”
With the 2024 WEC calendar on the horizon, Peugeot Sport will be working tirelessly to refine their car’s performance. As the season unfolds, fans can expect intense competition and thrilling action in the world of endurance racing.
🔗 Source