A significant step forward for Team Peugeot TotalEnergies at Fuji
With its uniquely undulating configuration, combination of fast and slower turns and a main straight stretching almost 1.5km, the high-speed Japanese circuit situated at the foot of Mount Fuji poses a variety of challenges for PEUGEOT’s two hybrid Hypercars.
After working hard throughout Friday – with a brace of trouble-free 90-minute practice sessions that enabled Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ #94 and #93 crews to complete 77 and 87 laps of the Japanese track respectively – Saturday’s schedule comprised the weekend’s third practice session and qualifying, which confirmed the progress that the team is making.
From its internal organisation to strategy, car set-up and reliability, every race that the team contests in 2022 represents vital preparation for its maiden full-season assault in 2023, when the sole objective will be victory.
Today’s final 60-minute practice session saw Team Peugeot TotalEnergies continue to improve its lap times, clocking a 1m30.510s with the #93 and 1m30.828s with the #94, which placed them respectively second and third on the timesheets. In qualifying, Jean-Éric Vergne then went quicker again as he led the team’s charge with a lap of 1m30.00s behind the wheel of the #93. In order to gather as much information as possible in qualifying, the #93 and #94 crews adopted significantly different strategies and the 10-minute session ran smoothly for Team Peugeot TotalEnergies, with both cars posting a number of flying laps. Following a successful Saturday at Fuji, the team is now fully focussed on tomorrow’s six-hour race.
