Peugeot reveals special livery for Le Mans 24 Hours
Peugeot has presented a special ‘art car’ livery that its two 9X8 Hypercars will use in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
The French firm revealed the bold colour scheme that will adorn both of its entries for the World Endurance Championship centrepiece on Monday at the Milan Design Week event.
Spanish artist J.Demsky produced the design, which draws inspiration from the double Le Mans-winning Peugeot 905 of the early 1990s with its choice of colours.
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Peugeot design director Matthias Hossann commented: “The Peugeot 905 is an icon of the 90s whose energy and creativity we wanted to celebrate. J. Demsky shares this passion and this inspiration.
“The graphic strength of his art, referenced but ultra-modern, transports the Peugeot 9X8 into a universe that mixes street art and technology.
“It's a veritable artistic performance to celebrate both automotive design and the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
Peugeot 9x8 24h Le Mans livery
Photo by: Peugeot Sport
The special livery will replace the standard, predominantly grey design used by Peugeot for the regular WEC campaign.
Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne will pilot the #93 9X8 for the marque’s first assault on La Sarthe since 2011, while Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and Nico Muller share the sister #94 machine.
Peugeot has endured a difficult start to its first full WEC season following a partial season entry last year. After gearbox problems caused long delays for both cars at Sebring, Duval, Menezes and Muller picked up the team’s best result of fifth in last weekend’s second round at Portimao.
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Their #94 machine suffered a failure of one of the FIA sensors in the closing stages of the race, which meant it had to reduce power and therefore pace to stay within the prescribed torque curve laid down in the Balance of Performance.
The #93 crew was delayed by a hydraulic leak discovered just before the green flag which forced a change of power steering, and limited it to finishing seventh.
Peugeot sits fifth in the Hypercar manufacturers’ standings, only ahead of minnows Vanwall and Glickenhaus.
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