Stellantis Motorsport’s Senior Vice-President is confident about Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ chances of securing the 9X8’s first FIA World Endurance Championship victory. Could that happen as soon as this weekend’s Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain season finale (6-8 November)?
Three weeks after an excellent double finish with third and fourth places achieved under Lone Star Le Mans’ torrential Texas rain, Team Peugeot TotalEnergies claimed its best-ever result in FIA WEC’s Hypercar category in the 6 Hours of Fuji as its #93 9X8 driven by Mikkel Jensen, Paul di Resta and Jean-Éric Vergne took the chequered flag second.
French marques performed particularly well in Japan, with only the #35 Alpine A424 proving faster than the Lion-emblazoned Hypercar in the foothills of Mount Fuji. “We were happy to be on the podium and to hear La Marseillaise,” Jean-Marc Finot told fiawec.com, “although we would evidently have preferred for it not to be another French manufacturer in front of us.”
Stellantis Motorsport’s Senior VP was obviously frustrated to miss out on a victory ‘that was not far off’. Still, Finot appreciates how far the team has come since the 9X8’s first competitive outing – in its eye-catching wingless guise – at the 6 Hours of Monza in 2022.
“We started out in endurance racing from a blank slate. It takes time to get everything up-and-running, but now, we’ve reached a decent cruising speed. We’ve caught up with teams that have been around for many years. It’s great to be in the rhythm and fighting for podiums.”
Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ newly-found momentum, already noticeable at the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo – where the squad finished sixth and seventh – can be explained in part by a better understanding of the 9X8’s potential. “In qualifying last year, we were still lagging behind our race pace. Now, our qualifying performances are fairly consistent with our race performances,” explains Finot. “This also demonstrates our improved understanding of the overall functioning of the car, tyre management and all the inner workings of the team."
However, the head of the Sochaux-based brand’s endurance programme points out that while the 9X8 now features a rear wing and asymmetrical tyres like its rivals, it still has room for improvement compared to the competition. “Our car has architectural elements dating back to the old regulations, and we are still paying a bit of a price for that,” says Finot. “We are aware of the improvements to be made to be, let’s say, a little more comfortable in the performance window.”
Despite this deficit, Team Peugeot TotalEnergies can be satisfied with the reliability of its package. The #94 entry shared by Loïc Duval, Malthe Jakobsen and Stoffel Vandoorne broke the 9X8’s distance record at Le Mans by completing 384 laps of the Circuit de la Sarthe during FIA WEC’s flagship 24-hour race earlier this year.
“Since we have an LMH, the car’s components have far fewer miles on them than the LMDhs. For standard LMDh parts, the mileage is multiplied by the number of manufacturers. The learning curve is inevitably longer for us,” explains Finot, who joined Peugeot in 1986 as an engineer. “We have also strengthened our teams in terms of our ability to change and check parts.”
As Peugeot CEO Alain Favey praised the ‘determination and hard work of the team’, Finot takes stock of the progress made during 2025. “We are starting to be competitive. We’re fighting for podium places and hoping to achieve victory. I think we’re in a performance window that allows us to compete for the win, but so are many other manufacturers. Race incidents and the ability to seize opportunities will make the difference.”
Team Peugeot TotalEnergies will attempt to end a promising season on a high note at the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain, the eighth and final round of the 2025 FIA WEC campaign. In last year’s race, the #93 9X8 finished third, 36 seconds behind the winning #8 Toyota. This year, the #94 crew will be under particular scrutiny, as Théo Pourchaire makes his racing debut with Peugeot ahead of his full-time programme next year.
The Frenchman, who replaces Stoffel Vandoorne in Bahrain, seems to have made a strong impression since his appointment as the team’s development driver. “He ticks a lot of boxes,” says Finot. “He’s a great person, a team player who is particularly easy to get along with and a very fast driver. I have every confidence in his performance in the race. We’re going to have some great times together.”
Stellantis Motorsport’s Senior VP is optimistic and enthusiastic about the future of the Lion in an increasingly unpredictable and exciting Hypercar category. “At Fuji, all the manufacturers put a car in Hyperpole,” he recalls. “All of the Hypercars are tightly-bunched. Racing, strategy, operations and driving make the difference, because the cars are equivalent. This is very positive for the fans. Next year, we will really enjoy competing in these conditions in all FIA WEC races.”
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