Peugeot on course with 908

The French manufacturer's motorsport boss Michel Barge has said that work would begin on the car this month, and that the diesel engine has already been run on a dyno.

Autosprint quoted Barge as saying: "We are working full time and everything is more or less in line with our timetable.

"In the second week of December the building of the first car will begin, and it will be finished by the end of the year.

"The engine, by contrast, is already on the dyno and it has successfully passed the 24-hour test."

Peugeot will not take a car to the Sebring 12 hours in March, but Barge expects the team to use the gruelling circuit for some of their preparations for Le Mans.

"We will carry out some tests at Sebring, probably both before and after the race," he said.

"We need to get experience and we consider that track very suitable to our needs."

Barge added that a World Touring Car programme was unlikely in the near future with projects underway in sportscar racing and rallying already.