Peugeot Overhauls WEC Team at Imola as Paddock Wraps Up Pre‑Race Prep

The French marque says effort has outpaced results and signals a push to turn development work into wins.

Overview

Peugeot named Emmanuel Esnault team principal, promoted Mathieu Neuville to chief engineer, and moved Victor Famin into the race engineer role on the No. 93 car.
Esnault said the work inside the program has not matched on-track results and set a clear aim to turn that effort into trophies.
Variable Prologue running offered mixed data, and newcomer Nick Cassidy said the 9X8 felt confidence-inspiring in the wet and easy to drive.
Heart of Racing rebuilt its No. 009 Aston Martin Valkyrie after Marco Sørensen’s Prologue crash with a locally stored spare chassis and confirmed the car is ready to run.
Kobe Pauwels will make his WEC debut in Heart of Racing’s No. 23 in place of Eduardo Barrichello, and Gray Newell also steps up for his first start as both learn the Goodyear tire and Imola’s curbs.