In a brief post yesterday we speculated that Peugeot may pull out of the full season of the 2012 FIA sanction World Endurance Championship (WEC) however we never imagined that they would pull out completely from all endurance racing. We are deeply saddened by this news as it has been truly exhilarating to watch Audi and Peugeot battle it out over the past several years. Having seen this battle in person at the last few 24 hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans, it will be sad to watch the battle continue without them. Thankfully for the sake of competition there are new entrants in the field including Toyota and Pescarola who we hope to bring a worth fight to the team from Audi Sport.
Cheers to Peugeot for a hard fought battle over the past several years. We tip our hat to you and hope to see you out on the Circuit de la Sarthe racing again soon. Continue reading ‘Peugeot officially withdraws from 2012 WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans’
In the face of Peugeot’s mounting financial crisis, the Peugeot Sport team has reached out to numerous privateer teams in hopes of securing some financial help to run 908 semi-privateer teams. Most of Europe is in the midst of a serious financial crisis and France is one of the hardest hit. PSA Peugeot Citroen Group has already laid off over 6,000 workers and in the light of this many see their expenses in motorsports as frivolous.
I do not expect Peugeot to pull out from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but their involvement in the full season of the FIA WEC is now in serious question. We hope for the sake of competition that Peugeot figures out a way to make the full season for the 2012 FIA WEC schedule otherwise we will have a very boring year of racing.
Read the entire story by John Dagys over on SpeedTV.com
- Tests at Sebring (U.S. state of Florida)
- Six Le Mans winners at the wheel
- Preparation for 2012 season
Editors note: The notable absence of Porsche drivers Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, and Audi Sport driver Mike Rockenfeller match up to the rumors that we’ve been hearing about a line-up change for Audi. We will post more once we get official word from Audi.
Audi Sport is intensively preparing for the 2012 sports prototype season. A test team has started the next trial phase of the LMP1 sports car for the 2012 season in the United States this week.
Continue reading ‘Audi tests LMP1 sports car for 2012′
This morning at the Zhuhai 6 Hours meeting the logo and the calendar of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship were presented. The championship consisting of eight rounds, including the Le Mans 24 Hours, will start in March and finish in November.
Jean-Claude Plassart, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest President, Pierre Fillon, ACO Vice President and Gérard Neveu, the FIA World Endurance Championship manager gave details of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar. The programme will include eight races in eight different countries on three continents. Four races will take place on Saturday, three on Sunday and one – the Le Mans 24 Hours – on Saturday/Sunday.
2012 Calendar*
- 17th March 2012: Sebring 12 Hours (USA)
- 5th May 2012: Spa-Francorchamps 6 Hours (B)
- 3rd June 2012: Le Mans 24-Hours test day (F)
- 16th/17th June 2012: 80th Le Mans 24 Hours (F)
- 25th August 2012: Silverstone 6 Hours (GB)
- 16th September 2012: Sao Paulo 6 Hours (BR) tbc
- 30th September 2012: Mount Fuji 6 Hours (J)
- 20th October 2012: Bahrain 6 Hours (BAH)
- 11th November 2012: 6 Hours of TBA (CH)
The entries for the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours will be announced on 2ndFebruary 2012 after deliberation by the Selection Committee.
All entrants in the FIA World Endurance Championship have an automatic invitation for the 80th Le Mans 24 Hours.
*Calendar awaiting validation by the Federation Interntionale de l’Automobile (FIA)
[Source: Automobile Club de l’Ouest]
