It’s a sad day for fans of the Peugeot Le Mans racing team as the French carmaker announced today it is pulling out from the endurance race series and will not be taking part in the next Le Mans 24 Hours.
Now, if you're wondering why the French company is abandoning the series after a successful run with 14 victories in the last 16 races, including a double at the Le Mans 24 Hours 2009 as part of the ILMC championship won by Peugeot two years in a row in 2010 and 2011, the answer is financial difficulties.
Peugeot said that due to the economic downturn in Europe, it needs to allocate funds from its racing division to its production cars.
"This decision has been taken against the backdrop of the challenging economic environment in Europe coupled with a particularly busy year for the Brand in terms of new vehicle launches," Peugeot said in a statement.
"In this context, Peugeot prefers to concentrate its 2012 resources on its commercial performance and, in particular, ensuring the successful launches of the 208, 3008 HYbrid4, 508 RXH, 508 HYbrid4 and 4008 which will take forward the Brand's strategy of moving upmarket and extending its global presence," the company added.
Peugeot was actively working on the development of a new version of its 908 LMP1-class endurance racer called Hybrid4 featuring a diesel-hybrid powertrain that was supposed to participate in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.
6 Comments:
Most likely a very wise decision. They have nothing to be ashamed of, they were at the top of their game. Once things ease some you can bet they'll be back.
how sad...i hope they make a good comeback in the future..
one thing that I have learned to be synonymous with the Peugeot brand, is whenever they compete they go all out! they proved it in 80's when the WRC was dominated by the Quattro's with the 205 Turbo 16, the Dakar Rally with the same car, after a long absence in the WRC they came back in 1999 with 206 WRC and won Manufacture's title 3 years in a row from 2000/1/2 they pulled out, came to Les Mans and the laid to rest the Audi R10, R15 and practically buried the Audi R18 last season with the 908 (i.e a total of 14 Victories out of 16 starts spells dominance *suck on that Audi...lol..*)...I for one from that brief history knows what Peugeot stands for in motorsport and will not believe anything else. It's a sad loss for Les Mans and especially Audi who will probably have no competition this year, devastating news for the newly launched FIA ILMC. Au revoir Peugeot from one of your most passionate followers, I know one thing for sure that your next endeavour in motorsport, in whatever guise, will be a success and will always benefit your fans :) PS unless Les Mans is exponentially expensive compared to WRC, then it might be the new FIA ILMC that's the cause for withdrawal, Citroen not only re-entered WRC, but this year have a Junior Works team, and am almost certain Peugeot is the more successful brands of the two, comerrcially that is ...wonder what Olivier Quesnel will focus on now since he was in charge of both Citroen Racing and Peugeot Motorsport but was recalled to focus on Peugeot after last years WRC season? And Les Mans was not only a spectacle but a proving ground and advertisment for their world class diesel expertise....
that's one thing you can count on with Peugeot :)
Too bad they were the only company that has been able to give Audi a run for thier money... Too bad they don't actually have Audi's money.
The challenge from Peugeot was what made Diesel LMP's tolerable. Both Audi and Peugeot factory drivers drove like mad men, which more than made up for the dull cars.
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