Peugeot’s Road to Le Mans
French firm goes all out to win Le Mans for a second consecutive year.
The French firm won its home race last year, breaking Audi’s run of eight victories, and will be gunning for success again in 2010. In the run up to race, Auto Express attended the firm’s final validation test at the Le Castellet circuit in France.
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Since winning last year, Peugeot hasn’t been taking it easy. As well as racing its 908s, including taking a 1-2 at this year’s 12 hours of Sebring in the USA, and winning the epic 1000km at Spa in Belgium, the team has been racking up the miles during 10 tests to evaluate new and improved parts. And these tests culminated at Le Castellet, with the firm bringing two cars to run for 30 hours in full Le Mans spec, to ensure that the team is totally ready for June’s event.
Speaking to Peugeot Sport Technical Director Bruno Famin, the test is designed to be a true examination of the car. “We have brought three trucks, 70 engineers to look after the two cars and most of our Le Mans drivers. In addition, Michelin has brought five trucks and 100 sets of tyres to allow us to run non-stop for 30 hours, beginning at 1pm, and running through the night until 7pm the next day. We’d like to do more, but this is the current limit that the track has set.”
The firm also brought along no fewer than 11 drivers, including the new line-up for the car that won Le Mans last year. Taking the first stint was British ace Anthony Davidson who joins Austrian Alex Wurz and Spaniard Marc Gene. Auto Express caught up with him for a chat about his aspirations for the race. Read more here.
