Driver Dynamics Blog

In 2007 Peugeot will return to the world’s racing circuits as part of the Le Mans Series (LMS) with the Peugeot 908 and an experienced team of racing drivers.

2007 will be the restart year for Peugeot Sport with two key Motor Sport programmes. The first is the Peugeot 908 and the main race of the year will be the Le Mans 24 Hours, a race that Peugeot has won twice already in 1992 and 1993. Peugeot will be present in all the Le Mans Series (LMS) races and the Le Mans 24 Hours with two cars.

A team of six international drivers and one test driver has been recruited by Peugeot Sport’s Team Manager, Serge Saulnier. Four drivers will contest all seven LMS races, Nicolas Manassian, Stéphane Sarrazin, Pedro Lamy and Marc Géné. Two other drivers will then strengthen the two teams for the Le Mans 24 Hours, Sebastien Bourdais and ex-Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. Eric Hélary, winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1993 in the Peugeot 905, will take on the responsibility of test driver and reserve driver for the team.

The inclusion of Jacques Villeneuve will also provide a second challenge - for him to become the first driver in the world to win the Formula 1 World Championship, Champcar Championship, Indianapolis and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

All drivers will now start an exhaustive development programme which will include 15 races, of which three simulate the Le Mans 24 Hours. The team will go to Sebring but not for the race, only the test sessions.

The first races for the Peugeot 908 will be the LMS race at Monza on 14th and 15th April, then Valencia on 5th and 6th May. These two races will be major tests for the 908 in order to amass as much information as possible prior to Le Mans.

The clock is now ticking but, from a blank sheet of paper, Peugeot Sport has in one year and three months created the Peugeot 908 and recruited its driver team.

The second Motor Sport programme is based around the new Peugeot 207. Three competition-based cars will be campaigned in 2007. The first is the 207 LW, an entry level car which will be developed and raced in the French Peugeot Sport race meetings, in the 207 Sprint Cup. The winner of the cup will, as their prize, be given the wheel to the second 207 based competition car, the Spider 207.

The Spider 207 will be raced in a single class race championship, the 207 Spider Cup. The Cup will consist of eight races including, as a curtain raiser, all six rounds of the Le Mans Series where it will support the Peugeot 908. The winner of the 207 Spider Cup will have the possibility of test driving the 908 for a day.

The final car is the 207 Super 2000 which conforms to the new Super 2000 regulations. It is aimed at Peugeot subsidiaries, importers and private customers to campaign in national and international championships, such as the intercontinental Rally Challenge and the Production WRC in 2007.

With two strong Motor Sport programmes the world’s motor sport arenas will once again hear the roar of the Peugeot Lion.