Peugeot 908: Pescarolo will have to pay

During 24 Hours of Le Mans, the subject was too sensitive to discuss. The debates first focused on the state of health of Benoît Tréluyer, about which all observers wondered if he had been able to emerge unscathed from his accident at the wheel of the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP entrusted to Pescarolo Sport. The medical staff had to spend twenty minutes extracting the Frenchman from his prototype, before the team director was reassuring regarding his driver's state of health.

But, two months after this violent exit from the track, Peugeot has taken stock. The car having not been loaned to Pescarolo Sport, but only entrusted, the bill amounts to 300 euros. “ It was stipulated at the start that, if there was damage for a reason not involving Peugeot's responsibility, it would be up to us to pay. », confides Henri Pescarolo in L?Equipe. As the boss of the Le Mans team has not insured his cars since the start of the Pescarolo Sport adventure, the bill will be covered in full by the team.

« This 908 was entrusted to Pescarolo Sport, and not loaned, adds Olivier Quesnel in the daily newspaper. She should have been insured but wasn't, it's a bit of a shame. For our part, we only invoiced what it cost us in additional purchases and manufacturing. That’s a bill of 300 euros or so. » The director of Peugeot Sport adds that the cost of parts which could be used on this 908 alone, since it was a 2008 version, were not added to the bill.

However, the circumstances of Benoît Tréluyer's accident have still not been clarified. Although a pilot error cannot be ruled out, a technical failure may also have caused this departure from the road. But Henri Pescarolo is ready to assume the cost of the breakage, recognizing that “ It's not very expensive ". The record holder for participations in the 24 Hours of Le Mans adds that “ In the past, every time we had accidents, the amount of the damage was less than the deductible that would have been imposed on us. As for the 908, it would have required such expensive insurance that we continued to take this risk. »

Despite this incident, which comes on top of the collision, still at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, between the Peugeot 908 n°7 of the Peugeot Total team and n°17 ​​of the Pescarolo team, Olivier Quesnel is ready to repeat this partnership during the next season. “ If Pescarolo Sport is still present in Endurance in 2010, we will be ready to consider entrusting it with another 908. Not only at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but also throughout the Le Mans Series. » The European Endurance Championship could therefore see the arrival of a 908 year-round in 2010. This season, the LMS is dominated by? Pescarolo and its Pesca-Judd, with which the Boullion-Tinseau crew has been working wonders since the start of the year.