Anthony Davidson is back at the wheel of a prototype, just a year and a bit on from his retirement from the cockpit. And he now understands the challenges faced by the drivers out on track in the World Endurance Championship aboard the successors to the LMP1 machinery in which he carved out a stellar sportscar career. “They’re having to wrestle the steering wheel much more than I ever did,” he reckons. “So they’re definitely earning their money out there.”
The 2014 World Endurance Championship title winner with Toyota comes to that conclusion after a handful of laps around the 8.47-mile Circuit de la Sarthe aboard Peugeot’s 9X8. Only he’s a good 100 miles to the north-east of Le Mans, on the outskirts of Paris at Peugeot Sport’s Satory base in fact. His experience of the French manufacturer’s Le Mans Hypercar is firmly in the virtual realm. He’s just sampled the hybrid machine with which Peugeot is aiming to repeat the successes of its 905 Group C contender and the LMP1s he raced in 2010-11 – two
