The reasoning behind Peugeot's decision to withdraw from the World Rally Championship became clearer last week when the French company announced its intention to return to Le Mans in 2007. A program of work has been undertaken to make a winning return to the endurance classic using an HDI Diesel engine.
Peugeot intends to enter an HDI-powered car in the five rounds of the Le Mans Endurance season with races at Spa, Silverstone, Monza, Istanbul and the Nurburgring as well as the legendary Le Mans 24hour. Peugeot is keen to exploit the marketing potential of a diesel powered win, but be sure that other manufacturers haven't overlooked the kudos involved. We predict that several others will be challenging by 2007, Audi being the most powerful possibility, using a development of the V10 diesel engine used in the VW Touareg.
Dave Jenkins - 23 Jun 2005