Peugeot ‘lacking performance’ for Le Mans 24 Hours, says Duval

Peugeot Hypercar driver Loic Duval cut a dejected figure after the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours test day as the French marque finished towards the back on Sunday.

In the first three-hour session, Peugeot’s two 9X8 2024 LMHs finished 19th and 20th before coming 19th and at the very rear in 21st during the second.

This is ahead of this weekend’s World Endurance Championship double points round at Circuit de la Sarthe and Duval is far from optimistic for the 24-hour enduro having been three seconds off the pace.

“We’re lacking a bit in terms of performance,” said Duval, who shares the #94 Peugeot with Stoffel Vandoorne and Malthe Jakobsen which finished the test sessions in 20th and 21st. 

“The regulations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans are different from those of the WEC, and we knew it would be tough, so we’re not surprised.”

When asked to clarify his rather direct comments, Duval doubled down, saying he was simply being realistic about Peugeot’s pace.

“We’re doing everything we can to extract the most from our package — with strategies and everything,” the Frenchman said.

”But now, if you ask me: ‘If the race started tomorrow, and everyone runs the same race without issues, using the same strategy, would you win?’ No, we wouldn’t. Right now, we don’t have the performance, that’s just how it is.

“We’re not surprised, we expected this. It’s a reality – but that doesn’t mean we’re giving up. 

“We’re trying everything. We’re optimising what we have, scraping for tenths of a second, aiming to be efficient in traffic, making the right strategic choices.

“We’ll also see what the race conditions bring and whether there’s anything we can take advantage of.

“But in terms of pure pace, objectively speaking, we’re too far off to say we can win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9×8: Loic Duval, Malthe Jakobsen, Stoffel Vandoorne

Photo by: Andreas Beil

It has already been a difficult campaign for Peugeot, which is seventh in WEC’s manufacturers’ standings ahead of only Aston Martin after three rounds.

When Duval talked more about the Le Mans test day, external factors didn’t influence the lack of pace as the team completed all of its preparation programmes without issue.

“It went as planned, we didn’t have any particular problems,” he told Autosport. “We tested different set-ups and tyre types that we wanted to try, to get a sense of what we could do and understand the various operating windows.

“We completed the number of stints we had planned to ensure everything holds up for next week. Overall, it went smoothly.”

So, with it only being the first day of running at Le Mans, there should still be time for improvement but Duval is adamant “it probably won’t change, even after next week’s sessions”.