Peugeot: ‘Solid result’ at Sao Paulo, tyre degradation key setback

Peugeot took a double-points finish at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo as tyre degradation made it difficult to convert their impressive qualifying.

The French Hypercar team turned heads when they secured their place in the Hyperpole qualifying session in second and third positions, before finalising grid spots of fourth and sixth.

They converted their best qualifying performance of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season into their season-best race finishes in sixth and seventh, though Peugeot accepted what hindered them from an even stronger race result.

Seven of the 18 Hypercar line-ups used two drivers across both cars, but a selection was due to the clash with the FIA Formula E event in Berlin – concerning Sebastien Buemi’s absence in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, Jean-Eric Vergne in the #93 Peugeot 9X8 and Stoffel Vandoorne in the #94 Peugeot.

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“Our race pace was as expected,” said Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot Sport Technical Director, “but we may have underestimated the speed of our three direct competitors, who were very fast.

“We could have finished P5 and P6 – it’s a shame, but we lost time under FCY.

“We’ll need to analyse why. The gaps are getting tighter, and there will be more opportunities to perform well before the end of the season.”

Tyre degradation pushes first pit stop forward

“A pretty calm start for me and a good first stint,” added Loic Duval, who co-drove the #94 Peugeot with Malthe Jakobsen.

“I struggled more in my second stint due to heavy rear tyre degradation, which forced us to bring our pit stop forward,” having run both cars in third and fourth before the first pit stop on the 40th lap.

“As a result, our final stint was a bit longer than that of our competitors, and on top of that, we were unlucky with the FCY, which cost us around fifteen seconds.”

Mikkel Jensen, co-driver of the #93 Peugeot with Paul di Resta, said:

“The advantage of a two-driver line-up is that you learn a lot from the first double stint and can adjust accordingly at the end of the race.

“In this race, tyre degradation management was crucial, and I did a better job of that during my final stint.

“Overall, it was a good weekend for the team, with strong performances in qualifying and a solid final result.

“Now we need to focus on tyre degradation.”

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