New Peugeot 9X8 hypercar ready to do battle at Le Mans

Peugeot has unleashed its 500kW 9X8 hypercar – the advanced hybrid-powered racer that will fight it out for victory at the 2022 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Signalling the French car-maker's return to the world-famous endurance race after an 11-year hiatus, the 2022 Peugeot 9X8 has been developed to take on the Toyota GR010 Hybrid in the maiden series of the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) class.

With strict regulations on total power, the LMH rules provide car-makers greater freedom when it comes to design and technology.

That is why, in a radical move by Peugeot, the 9X8 lacks a conventional racer's rear wing.

Instead, Peugeot engineers are understood to have created a novel way of generating huge downforce without the need for a large wing that adds drag.

Featuring a striking design, key aero elements include sculpted wheel rims, wing vents above the tyres and integrated mirrors, plus a body honed from thousands of hours of wind tunnel testing.

The claw-like headlight and tail-light designs, meanwhile, link the hypercar to Peugeot's road-going vehicles.

Inside, the racer's cabin is also modelled on the car-maker's i-Cockpit design that combines a small steering wheel with instruments mounted high to reduce the time the driver needs to take his or her eyes off the road.

The new petrol-electric hybrid has been developed to produce more than 500kW in race trim, with the French car-maker developing an all-new 2.6-litre twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine that weighs only 165kg – just 15kg more than a 1.6-litre V6 turbo F1 engine.

Combined with a seven-speed sequential transmission, the new V6 turbo has been developed to drive the rear wheels only.

Up front, a single electric motor drives the front axle, producing around 200kW and drawing energy from a 900-volt battery that sits in the centre of the car for optimum weight distribution.

The battery has been designed to be charged via a plug-in source prior to racing. But once up and racing it is self-charging, clawing back energy during braking, with the driver capable of adjusting how much regenerative braking is occurring at any given time.

Total power is 700kW, says Peugeot Sport, although in compliance with the new hypercar WEC rules, no more than 500kW can ever be deployed. The petrol powertrain is wound back to around 300kW until the battery is depleted, at which point it can return to the full 500kW.

To ensure there’s no cheating, sensors broadcast how much power is being transmitted to all four wheels to the FIA in real time during a race.

Other new rules for the class forbid the electric motor to be used at speeds less than 120km/h – regs welcomed by enthusiasts as it ensures that all-wheel drive race cars do not have a traction advantage over more traditional rear-drive hypercars.

Despite Peugeot Sport developing the new powertrain from scratch, the new hypercar rules have been designed with a focus on cost cutting, with each season’s budget limited to €20 million ($A32m).

Manufacturers are allowed to develop either a bespoke racer or modify a road-going hypercar for race use.

To keep racing close, the LMH series will use performance balancing to create not only a level playing field within the hypercar class, but with the LMP2-based racers too.

If you're wondering about the 9X8 name, the hybrid hypercar borrows its 9 prefix from previous Le Mans challengers, like the 905 and 908, while the X denotes Peugeot's four-wheel drive and hybrid technology. Finally, the 8 links the racer to the current road-going line-up.

Peugeot has already revealed a star-studded driver line-up that includes Jean-Eric Vergne, Kevin Magnussen and Paul di Resta.

Peugeot will take on Toyota in the LMH in 2022 but from 2023 will face competition for outright wins from the new LMDh class in which Audi, BMW, Ferrari and Porsche all plan to compete.

The cheaper LMDh class stipulates that the car-maker only has to develop the combustion engine in-house, with the battery, motor, transmissions all standard parts, while items like the chassis can be bought from external partners.