At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Peugeot has chosen its battle

Peugeot failed to place his two 9X8s in Hyperpole. The two Sochalian Hypercars will start from 10th and 11th places on the Centenaire grid, the start of which will be given at 16:00 p.m. this Saturday.

« We knew we weren't going to fight for pole, admits Jean-Eric Vergne. We are focused on the race, tire degradation, pace. During Free Practice, we were very happy with the car, the best 9X8 of all the runs I was able to do. We are moving in the right direction. »

The French driver thus believes that the gap between the French Hypercar and its opponents is not as significant as what we were able to see during qualifying (two seconds between the Ferrari of Fuoco and the first Peugeot).

Better tire management?

« The others really focused on the qualifiers, not us, insists the Frenchman. We don't have the car to go get this. » The former pilot of Toro Rosso en Formula 1 even saw some positives during this week at Le Mans preceding the race.

« For the first time I was able to drive with other Hypercars without falling behind, we have the car to play with the others, it's nice and I hope it will continue in the race. »

Tire management will be a key element during the 24 hours of racing and “JEV” believes that Peugeot is doing well at this level. “ Some teams deteriorate more than us, we must manage to be consistent, judges the person concerned. Over the duration of a relay, you can have a good performance if you manage to be consistent. »

Rain as an X factor

The French team did not seek to be the fastest during qualifying, but to focus on the longest run in the race. “ We have to choose our battle, we leave qualifying to others and we concentrate on the race, says Vergne. On the long relays we are less far than what the qualifying may suggest. »

« We would have liked to be in Hyperpole to do more laps, but the race is so long, so many things can happen, plus they are predicting rain for Saturday, indicates the native of Pontoise. As a pilot you want to be in Hyperpole, up there with the others. We can't do everything, we have a gap on which we had to work to make up for this lack of performance, and I prefer that we make up for this gap in the race relays than in the qualifying. »

Although rain is a risk for all drivers, these conditions could work in Peugeot's favor, especially with a hybrid trigger speed lower than other LMHs. “ We drove once in the rain in Spa and we weren't bad at all, believes Vergne. Traction at 150 km/h can be an advantage. If it rains, the key word will be to survive. »

For Peugeot, the priority will ultimately be to race without really worrying about that of others. THE 24 Hours of Le Mans have already demonstrated in the past that it is not always the fastest car that wins…

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