TAKING OFF WITH NO WINGS
Peugeot made a big splash back in July 2021 when it revealed the initial images of the car that will take it back to the pinnacle of sportscar racing for the first time since 2011. And the cynics argued that showing a car without a conventional rear wing was an attempt to achieve just that. It would never race like that, they shouted. Ten months on, the new 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar that will carry Peugeot’s hopes in the World Endurance Championship has been launched, is close to being homologated, has a date set for its debut in July… and there’s no rear wing.
The definitive 9X8 unveiled at the Algarve circuit near Portimao last week looks pretty similar to last year’s show car. The avant-garde aerodynamic concept remains unchanged, even if there are tweaks that we can see, and presumably others we can’t. The look of the real thing is instantly recognisable from the concept. The full-size mock-up wasn’t some kind of stylistic show car. The bodywork was based on the aero programme of the 9X8 as it stood a few months before July last year.
