Pescarolo Sport, a legendary name in endurance and sportscar racing, is to make a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024, running a customer Peugeot 9X8 programme, the team has announced.
However, three-times Le Mans winner and team founder Henri Pescarolo is not involved, in any shape or form, with the project. The naming rights to the team were bought by Frenchman Jocelyn Pedrono in 2016, with an aim of bringing the name back to Le Mans.
And in a press release distributed in Twitter, translated from French, it added: “Following its announcement of December 2, 2022, Pescarolo Sport continues the development of its sports program. Pescarolo Sport has retained Peugeot Sport as manufacturer for its WEC Hypercar 2024 program and has started important negotiations with partners major in order to finance the season.”
Additionally, it has hired Joël Rivière, formerly involved with Jacques Nicolet’s Ligier company, to head up the company alongside Pedrono, and Bruce Jouanny, former Pescarolo driver before the team went under over a decade ago.
Pescarolo Sport, and later Team Pescarolo, were a staple at Le Mans in the 1900s and 200s, running customer Courages and later its own chassis, albeit modified Courages. The assets were later sold to Ligier and Jacques Nicolet, and bailed out the team in 2010 and allowed it to continue racing for a few years, before finally collapsing altogether in 2014.
This return, however, is dependent on securing the funding needed to purchase the cars and run the programme. It is currently unknown how many cars the team plans on running, or if it will enter the full FIA World Endurance Championship season, select races, or just Le Mans. MotorsportWeek.com has contacted Pescarolo for comment or confirmation, and will update when we hear back.
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