Peugeot Returns To Le Mans With A New Hybrid Hypercar

Peugeot Sport has announced its return to the WEC endurance racing championship from 2022 with a new hybrid hypercar.

The French car maker will compete against manufacturers like Aston Martin, Toyota and Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus in the new Hypercar class. The new rules allow competing with either a bespoke racing car or a modified version of an existing hypercar. They also dictate the production of at least 20 street-legal models, which means that we’re getting a Peugeot hybrid hypercar for the road in the next few years.

Peugeot withdrew from endurance racing back in 2011, after having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the 908 HDi FAP LMP1 racer in 2009. The French have a long history in competing at Le Mans, having won the race in 1992 and 1993 as well, during the last years of the Group C era.

“I am very excited at the prospect of channeling the skills and passion of my team into this project,” said PSA Motorsport Director Jean-Marc Finot. “It is a new challenge and I know our experts will rise to it with another demonstration of their will to win with teams financed by the Group’s brands, fuelled by their long experience of topflight FIA championships and hunger for success.”

The new class will replace the LMP1 racers, with the aim to significantly reduce the costs involved, bring back the big manufacturers to the sport and create a field of racers that can be more easily associated with road cars.

Peugeot Sport didn’t announce further details, but promised to do so in early 2020.