Peugeot has reaffirmed its intention to introduce a fresh evolution of its 9X8 Hypercar to the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2027, while clarifying it will not introduce an entirely new car for the remainder of the current rules cycle.
The Satory marque has long been studying potential changes to the 9X8 beyond its initial allocation of five Evo jokers that it exhausted with the suspension update it introduced for the start of 2025 — which followed its major overhaul in early 2024.
Although Peugeot has proven occasionally competitive in regular WEC rounds, notably scoring pole at Spa last month, it has continued to struggle in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where its two cars finished 11th and 12th, four and five laps off the pace respectively.
While Peugeot theoretically has no more Evo jokers available to it for 2027, it hopes to be permitted further changes based on the new clause added to this year’s WEC sporting regulations allowing extra modifications to manufacturers deemed to be at a significant performance deficit by the organizers.
Speaking ahead of last weekend’s WEC blue riband, Stellantis Motorsport boss Olivier Jansonnie shed light on Peugeot’s plans, including addressing media reports claiming that an entirely new car based on a new homologation was in the works.
“Looking at the situation now, qualifying [at Le Mans] is representative of the performance of this car on this track,” Jansonnie told selected media including Sportscar365. “Basically, we must be allowed to do an evolution.”
“It’s an evolution of the [current] car. We have been preparing this for some time now and hopefully we’ll have it on track next year.”
Asked to clarify whether the new car will require the use of further Evo jokers or a new homologation, Jansonnie described the decision as “not in our hands”, saying it is up to the governing bodies to decide how the updated 9X8 would be classified.
“We are developing the car, and the way it is homologated is completely in the hands of the FIA and the ACO,” he said. “Basically they will decide how to homologate the car.
“The sporting rules changed this year to allow this kind of thing [allowing struggling manufacturers additional upgrades]. We are sharing the previous facts that we are missing performance and that we should be improved for next year.
“Any joker is homologated anyway. It’s an evolution of the car and it’s purely an administrative decision to how they will homologate it practically.”
Peugeot CEO Alain Favey meanwhile clarified that the 9X8 name will continue to be used for the remainder of the current rules cycle, as he reiterated that the brand will remain on the grid at least through the 2029 campaign before new rules come in for 2030.
“Peugeot is extremely resilient, and that’s what we want to demonstrate in our involvement in the WEC and in Le Mans,” said Favey.
“We therefore confirmed that we would be part of the championship until 2029 in the knowledge that something would happen on the rules in 2030.
“At least to have the certainty that until 2029 we can [compete] with the current car and make further evolutions, we can continue to work on being more competitive, that for us is enough to justify staying for another three years.”
Referring to the positions the two 9X8s started at Le Mans last weekend, he added: “Peugeot’s ambition is not to be 16th and 18th on the grid, definitely not. We were in pole position just a few weeks ago in Spa and close to the pole position in Imola.
“So definitely the kind of performance we brought in the first two races of the year is more what we’re looking for than what we saw in qualifying here, which for all of us, of course, was a disappointment.
“But we are confident that based on what we’ve seen in these three races until now, we have enough ground to be optimistic about our capacity to bring for the next three years a [level of] performance that is more compatible with our ambition.”
