The French manufacturer has hinted that the new four-wheel-drive prototype that will race in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship will begin testing in earnest this month in the wake of the release of a photograph last weekend of the car undergoing its roll-out.
“We have a lot of tests planned, but we cannot say where or when — but development is starting now,” a spokeswoman told Motorsport.com.
Peugeot, winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours on three occasions, posted a photo of the 9X8 undergoing a shakedown on its Twitter account on Saturday evening (pictured top).
The photograph of the 9X8 released by Peugeot has been modified so that it is impossible to see whether the car is running a conventional rear wing.
There was no rear wing on the car in the first images released in early July and on subsequent appearances by a show car or mock-up at the Monza and Le Mans 24 Hours WEC rounds.
But the photo from the roll-out clearly shows aerodynamic appendages either side of the blanked-out area that weren’t present on the show car.
When asked whether these are part of a full-width rear wing, the spokeswoman said: “Does it have a rear wing or not? Now you want to know the answer.”
.
The new rules are much less prescriptive than the old LMP1 regulations and lay down target windows for downforce and drag into which each car must fit.
Peugeot set out the target of running its new car by the end of this year when it confirmed its LMH programme in September 2020 and has steadfastly stuck to it ever since.
It has so far only committed to giving the 9X8 a race debut some time over the course of the 2022 WEC season.
Keyword: Peugeot's WEC hypercar could make track debut this month