Peugeot Sport has confirmed that it has undertaken successful testing of its new 9X8 HyperCar at Motorland Aragon.

And whilst the team have not confirmed as yet where the cars will first race, it has ruled out starting at the 2022 FIA WEC season-opener at Sebring in March.

“Team Peugeot TotalEnergies will not attend the first of the six rounds that make up the 2022 calendar which kicks off at Sebring in Florida,” said Stellantis Motorsport Director Jean-Marc Finot. “The 9X8 will make its race debut based on its level of readiness, reliability and competitiveness as agreed with the championship’s organizers who we will keep regularly updated as our development program progresses.

“We could have opted for attending selected races only without committing to the season. That would have been possible, but less coherent. Instead, we have chosen an approach that will enable the team to be fully immersed in the discipline, resulting in much closer collaboration with the organizers even if the 9X8 doesn’t contest every race as our development work and the homologation process continue.”

The 9X8, designed to the ACO’s Le Mans Hypercar ruleset, has a powertrain that combines a rear-mounted 2.6-litre bi-turbo petrol V6 that delivers over 500kW (680hp), a front-mounted 200kW motor-generator unit, all-wheel drive transmission and a high-density battery developed jointly by Peugeot Sport, TotalEnergies and its subsidiary Saft.

Peugeot have also confirmed that the new car is testing in its concept version, with no rear wing.

“This configuration is permitted by the ACO/FIA hypercar regulations,” says Olivier Jansonnie, Technical Director of Peugeot Sport’s WEC program.

“Our calculations and wind tunnel work have confirmed the pertinence of our decision to run without a rear wing. Along with the developments and settings this option calls for, we expect it to be validated as we test at different circuits with differing characteristics.”

The test program will continue towards a decision on finalizing a version of the car to submit for homologation, after which the basic design of the 9X8 will be locked in until 2025.