Peugeot has finally officially launched its 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar, announcing that the vehicle will make its race debut in the Monza round of the WEC in July.
Notable for its lack of a rear wing, a design made possible by the regulatory freedom afforded by the BoP Hypercar rules, the 9X8 is powered by a 2.6-liter, bi-turbo, 520kW, V6 internal combustion engine (ICE) with a 200kW electric motor developed by Peugeot Sport on the front axle. The motor and silicon-carbide-based inverter were developed in association with Marelli, and the car’s high-voltage, 900V battery was developed jointly with TotalEnergies/Saft.
The car has been testing on track since December, with Peugeot choosing circuits with distinctly different characteristics (Portimão in Portugal, Le Castellet in France, MotorLand Aragón and Barcelona in Spain, and Magny-Cours in France) to validate the aero concept in addition to the usual reliability tests. Peugeot says that the car has run over 10,000km during 25 tests. However, delays in testing and the technicalities of the homologation process meant the car could not debut at the 2022 Le Mans race.
