Peugeot pull out of Le Mans and all endurance racing

Peugeot has pulled out of endurance racing, including the Le Mans 24-hour race, with immediate effect.

No surprise why it’s happened: the Eurozone crisis, Peugeot’s European sales down 6.1% over the past year and that trend expected to continue, a need to conserve cash "to concentrate resources on sales performance in 2012" – in particular, sales of the marque’s new 208 and hybrid road car ranges.  

It’s a shame too for Peugeot’s competitors in sportscar racing, notably Audi. Good competitors make for a good show and a great showcase and Peugeot was Audi’s main rival, running its diesel 908 prototypes in the Le Mans 24 Hours and other series since 2007, winning Le Mans victory in 2009, and last year taking the inaugural Intercontinental Le Mans Cup title. With Peugeot gone, a lot of the fizz goes out of the party. And although new top-flight rivals are on their way it’ll be a while yet – Toyota is launching a new LMP1 (Le Mans Prototype class 1) but won’t field a full campaign this year, while Porsche's new Le Mans car won’t race before 2014.

It is also a blow for the FIA. The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup morphs into the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) this year and, as such, becomes the first new endurance racing series for 20 years with World Championship status. We all thought the 2012 WEC was going to bring us the thrills of a pitched, season-long battle between turbo-diesel LMP1 manufacturer teams from Audi and Peugeot – no longer. Quel dommage.

But fingers crossed for a rebound. Peugeot's Sport department has not been entirely closed, and the door’s been left open for future racing if finances allow in 2013.