After its reveal last July 2021, Peugeot officially announced that the 9X8 Hypercar is bound for the 2022 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Peugeot 9X8
The Peugeot 9X8 will make its debut at the 6 Hours of Monza in July, the championship’s fourth round. Peugeot is expected to race its hypercar in the season’s third round at the Circuit de la Sarthe for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, but was delayed probably to ensure reliability.
“Peugeot’s participation in the FIA World Endurance Championship is further evidence of the brand’s ingenuity and longstanding passion for motorsport. It will also play a role in the essential transfer of technology from the race track to our road-going vehicles, particularly in the field of electrification,” said Peugeot CEO Linda Jackson.
The design team for the development of the Peugeot 9X8 was led by Matthias Hossann and the Sports team under Olivier Jansonnie. Many speculate that the lack of a rear wing from the model shown last year will be corrected. However, the French marque continued with the initial layout in compliance with the FIA’s regulations.
All systems go for the French hypercar
Under the hood, the hypercar comes with an all-wheel-drive (Peugeot HYBRID4) configuration. It consists of a 2.6-liter twin-turbo V6 engine with 697 horsepower for the rear wheels and a 268 horsepower electric motor for the front wheels. A 7-speed sequential transmission with paddle shifters is matched with the engine.
As said earlier, the Peugeot 9X8 will not race at the centennial edition of the Le Mans but the automaker will set up an exhibition to showcase its success story at La Sarthe. For the 6 Hours of Monza, the driver lineup includes Paul Di Resta, Loïc Duval, Mikkel Jensen, Gustavo Menezes, James Rossiter, and Jean-Éric Vergne.
“With only weeks to go until its maiden competitive outing at Monza, the Peugeot 9X8 has been clocking up the kilometers in testing at a variety of circuits. At the end of the day, however, there is no substitute for actual racing and we can’t wait to discover the potential of our hybrid-electric hypercar,” said Peugeot Sport Technical Director Olivier Jasonnie.
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