By Stellantis Media
Round 5 of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign in Japan saw Team Peugeot TotalEnergies achieve a double finish with its two 9X8 Hybrid Hypercars. The six-hour race marked another vital stage in the car’s development and confirmed the substantial progress the team has made since its maiden appearance at Monza two months ago.
Today’s 6 Hours of Fuji, fifth round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship, saw both Team Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 Hypercars take the chequered flag. The #93 car shared by Paul Di Resta, Jean-Eric Vergne and Mikkel Jensen finished fourth, while the #94 sister car of James Rossiter, Loïc Duval and Gustavo Menezes crossed the line in 20th position overall.
Following a trouble-free run through the weekend’s three free practice sessions and qualifying, the two 9X8s began the race from fourth and fifth on the grid. The opening stints went similarly smoothly, with Rossiter in particular drawing upon his prior experience of the circuit to settle into a strong rhythm.
The team’s mechanics worked like clockwork during the first round of pit visits, enabling the #94 entry to appear in third place as a function of the other teams’ own stops.
Shortly after the two-hour mark, however, the #94 – now in the hands of Duval – ran into its first setback when an engine eak necessitated a return to the pits, thankfully not resulting in any further problems but costing the crew 20 minutes as the team rectified the issue, one it had never previously encountered. The #93 9X8 suffered a similar problem with Di Resta at the wheel. Now identified and cured, it prevented the car from finishing any higher up the order. Tyre change strategy was adapted as the race unfolded, while the #94 found itself additionally delayed by a stop-and-go penalty for excessive energy consumption.
The lessons from these six hours underscore once again the importance of the three races Team Peugeot TotalEnergies is contesting in 2022, while also marking another significant milestone in the development of both the Peugeot 9X8 and the team as a whole, with the focus now able to be turned to car set-up and performance. Further tests are planned prior to the final race of the season in Bahrain in order to continue this positive progress.
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