6 Hours of Imola: PEUGEOT 9X8 2024 scores first points for PEUGEOT TotalEnergies Peugeot team

• The No. 93 PEUGEOT 9X8 2024 (Jensen/Müller/Vergne) finished ninth overall at the 6 Hours of Imola on its world championship debut.
• PEUGEOT 9X8 2024 with starting number 94 (Di Resta/Duval/Vandoorne) was unlucky and finished 15th.
• 73,600 fans braved the changeable weather to watch six hours of intense racing.

Rüsselsheim am Main, April 22, 2024. The 2024 PEUGEOT 9X8 had a real baptism of fire in its competitive debut in difficult conditions at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, but the PEUGEOT TotalEnergies team showed courage and determination to score the first points in the World Endurance Championship of 2024 FIA.

The PEUGEOT 9X8 2024, which qualified 14th and 15th on the grid, started the race in a fierce Imola race in the midfield of 37 cars. While Nico Müller (number 93) was able to find his way through the hypercars, Paul di Resta (number 94 ) was hit from behind in the first corner and sent into the gravel trap.

In fact, the PEUGEOT 9X8 with starting number 94 was unlucky throughout the race: a collision in the first corner caused serious damage and a tire puncture occurred shortly after the halfway point of the race. Despite the bad luck, Paul di Resta, Loïc Duval and Stoffel Vandoorne did not give up and fought their way to 15th place in the overall standings. “It was difficult today. I started my career at the worst time, in the rain. It was a little crazy, the cars were sliding on the gravel everywhere,” Stoffel said when he finished. “It was very difficult to get the tires up to temperature. We had nothing to lose, so we tried different things to get the data later to collect.”

Thanks to the strong position of Nico Müller, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne, the number 93 car improved in the overall standings. In the rain, “JEV” won his head-to-head race with the #2 Cadillac and then passed the #38 Porsche to finish ninth. “The beginning of my performance on the wet track was very difficult. I thought I would lose the car by several points on the straight. After that, my performance improved and I was able to protect my wet tires on the drying track. The team brought me to the pit at the right time to set tires,” said the Frenchman.

The No. 93 PEUGEOT 9X8 2024 finished the race in ninth place, earning Team PEUGEOT TotalEnergies’ first points of the season. Even if not fully reflected in the overall results, the 2024 edition has made real progress in Italy. The points finish was a fair reward for the team’s efforts in building the car and the entire weekend at the legendary Imola circuit.

Olivier Jansonnie, Technical Director of the PEUGEOT TotalEnergies team:
“Car number 94 was hit from behind at the start. The body was badly damaged. We did the repairs in two stages, one of them with the safety car on the way, to try to stay on the same lap as the leader for as long as possible. From a sporting point of view , there wasn’t much to gain at this point. We had a grip problem in the number 93 car that we need to look into and that definitely cost us a few places in the overall standings. We managed a good top ten finish, especially when it came to tire change. Of course we have to improve in qualifying for Spa-Francorchamps.”

Nico Müller (#93 PEUGEOT 9X8):
“At the beginning, the other riders in the peloton took too many risks. But luckily I was able to stay out of trouble. Then I had to reset the car, which meant we lost a lot of time. My pace was good. Our goal was to finish in the points and we succeeded. the air pressure was difficult to control but the team stayed focused and we made the right decision on the tire strategy.”

Loïc Duval (#94 PEUGEOT 9X8):
“We had an accident on the first lap, which affected the whole race. I drove twice. The first stage went well, although there were a lot of blue flags. My performance was good. In my second lap I had problems passing. Sometimes I stopped while braking and got a tire on the left front, which was a very difficult race for us. There are positives from the weekend in terms of the balance of the car and our stability during the trip.”

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