Olivier Jansonnie, technical director of the 9X8 project at Peugeot Sport, insisted that there is no change in direction at the team despite clean races for its pair of entries in the Hypercar class in each of the past two rounds of the World Endurance Championship at Portimao and then Spa last month.
“We are still working on reliability; it is the most important thing for us right now,” said Jansonnie.
“A clear road map was set for this year, which was to try to work on reliability.
“We are still in that mindset: we are trying to achieve what is possible for Le Mans.”
Jansonnie insisted that only when the car is reliable can the performance of the avant-garde contender be fully unlocked.
“There is still some performance potential just by running the car more and more,” he said.
“The ways to improve the car are still quite obvious to us, but it is difficult to say if that’s a hundredth, a tenth or several tenths.”
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Jansonnie stressed that Peugeot could not be confident about the reliability of the 9X8 ahead of the double-points WEC round on 10/11 June.
“To say we are 100% confident, we are not there yet,” he said.
Source: Autosport