The Peugeot which lost second place on the penultimate lap of the season-opening WEC race has been disqualified from the results.
The team confirmed its number 93 car stopped less than two laps away from finishing second because it ran out of fuel.
Although Jean-Eric Vergne was able to use the car’s electric motor to cross the finishing line in seventh place, he was unable to return to parc ferme. The number 93 car, which Vergne shares with Nico Mueller and Mikkel Jensen, was therefore disqualified.
Mueller, who led the early stages of the race at the Losail International Circuit in the 9X8, said it was “just unbelievable to run out of fuel on the final lap.”
“We have to analyse what happened,” he said. “It’s a hard one to take, as we really deserved to finish second today.”
Stellantis motorsport senior vice president Jean-Marc Finot said the team “Showed the potential of the car and the team really delivered a great performance. We were right in the mix.
“Unfortunately, there was a refuelling problem at the last pit stop, something we still need to investigate, but it meant that Jean-Eric had to finish the race with the electric motor.”
Peugeot were on course to score their best result to date with the 9X8 in the series. Their previous best was third at Monza last year.
The car’s disqualification promoted the number 50 Ferrari to seventh place. Alpine’s highest-placed A424, the number 35 machine, was promoted to eighth place on its debut. Toyota’s second GR010 rose to ninth and the Proton-run Porsche 963 was promoted to the final points position.
The team’s second car, shared by Stoffel Vandoorne, Paul di Resta and Loic Duval, was provisionally classified 17th. Di Resta was involved in a first-corner collision and the car later spent half a minute in the pits having its battery replaced.
This was the final appearance for the 9X8 in its 2023 specification before a new version of the car appears at the Six Hours of Imola. The team is expected to depart from its unconventional wing-less design.
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