The 908 HYbrid4, “not mature enough”

By lifting the veil, to everyone's surprise, on the 908 HYbrid4 at the Geneva Motor Show a little over a month ago, the leaders of the team Peugeot Sport had mentioned a possible participation of their latest creation in the test day of 24 Hours of Le Mans, April 24. This eventuality, however, depended on the results obtained during the lioness's first spins. And after reflection, Bruno Famin and his teams finally decided to postpone the first public laps of the HYbrid4 until later.

“When the Peugeot 908 HYbrid4 was presented, we expressed our ambitious objective of running it during the test day, explains Bruno Famin, Technical Director of Peugeot Sport. When it came time to make the decision, we judged that the car was not mature enough to run under acceptable reliability conditions. In order to best prepare for the next edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, all the efforts of Team Peugeot Total will therefore be concentrated on the three 908s with conventional engines.”

“We are committed to the development of this innovative technology, in which Peugeot is a leader, and which represents an important step forward in terms of increasing the efficiency of cars, explains Olivier Quesnel, Director of Peugeot Sport. The project continues to advance. Our main objective this season is the 24 Hours of Le Mans. »

We will have understood it well, a month and a half before the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2011, the Lion firm will prefer not to spread itself too thin and remain focused on one and the same objective: Bring back to Vélizy this trophy which was its own in 2009 and what Audi stole from it last year. And for that, all the French forces will be focused on the new 908 powered by the V8 HDi FAP.