Is 2026 the year Peugeot finally wins in WEC?

There is a massive sense of anticipation at Peugeot’s World Endurance Championship squad for the coming 2027 season. That is when further Evo jokers are finally expected to eliminate the remaining weaknesses of the 9X8 – remnants of an unfortunate timeline of events from the project’s early phases in 2020, including the LMH-LMDh convergence.

But before then, a full season remains on the schedule. During the launch, Peugeot CEO Alain Favey boldly demanded the first victory for the programme. Implementation, however, will be anything but easy: its Le Mans Hypercar remains at the same technical stage as in 2025, while the competition has significantly upgraded in several areas.

Track preparation was also relatively sparse. Peugeot completed only one 24-hour test in Portimao since the 2025 season finale in Bahrain. This session was primarily used to give newcomer Nick Cassidy a full integration programme. The Stellantis brand is shifting its testing focus to later in the year, potentially already utilising updates intended for 2027.

Simulator hours instead of track mileage

Nevertheless, the team was not idle over the winter. Malthe Jakobsen explained to Autosport’s sister title Motorsport-Total.com that the team compensated for the lack of track time with intensive work at the workshop in Satory: “Lots of simulators [hours] and obviously many, many hours in the workshop in Satory for engineers and mechanics to prepare and get ready for the season.”

So, what is possible with the current package? “If we have better pace in the race in the rain, then we need to do the rain dance,” joked Theo Pourchaire. The Peugeot 9X8 is considered a strong car in the wet, and there is a chance of rain toward the end of this weekend’s Imola opener on Sunday.

At the same time, Pourchaire warned against expecting consistent performance. For Imola, he particularly fears the high curbs, which historically do not suit the 9X8’s suspension.

“There are going to be some races where we are going to be struggling and some others we will have a good car,” he said.

“The car is better on some tracks than others, for sure. For example, in Imola, it’s a bit difficult on the kerbs for us. Suspension-wise we struggle a bit. But let’s see, maybe we find a good set-up and we will be in the mix for some good points.”

Software and new leadership provide hope

The team isn’t entering the new season entirely without changes.

“The main topic was to discover the 2026 tyre compounds and all the things around it. So, how to warm up, how to prepare the tyres to extract the maximum performance of them,” explained team principal Emmanuel Esnault.

“In terms of reliability, we had some test items to build a proof.  We have also got always some software stuff to develop and some set-up adjustment, mechanical set-up adjustment, without requiring some joker or homologation of the car.”

Software development is a crucial area, as it is one of the few fields not governed by the Balance of Performance (BoP). Beyond the technical side, Peugeot is also relying on fresh leadership: the organisational structure has been reshuffled with Mathieu Neuville as the new chief engineer and Esnault as team principal.

Will that be enough for Imola? Paul di Resta, who shares the #93 entry with Cassidy and Stoffel Vandoorne, remains realistic.

“Clearly, we are still on the back foot, clearly still not as good as competition,” he told Motorsport-Total.com. “Ferrari, Toyota, and certainly some other LHhD manufacturers are up the road. If we can get it into a perfect window, we can be in a position where we can fight in the midfield.”

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Stoffel Vandoorne, Nick Cassidy

Photo by: FIA WEC / DPPI

Yet, the team refuse to give up. “If you turn up on a race weekend [having] already giving up before first practice, then you don’t have the right people at the track. We are always here to do well and to be competitive,” he added. 

Esnault shared this sentiment: “We think that the project has got a certain level of maturity now with the fourth season of this car, even if the package is not at the moment at the level we would expect to fight for top positions.

“Of course, we aim to chase for the first victory in WEC. We know it will be tough. We all know that it’s always difficult to assess where your competitors will be. 

“We are all racers. We are doing this for years. What we want is to see our cars winning races, fighting at the front.”

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– The Autosport.com Team