The results of the first day of Peugeot at the 6 Hours of Monza is mixed. On the one hand, the n°93 completed 40 laps on the track and set the third fastest time in the first Free Practice session behind Glickenhaus and Alpine. On the other, the n°94 remained in its garage after eight short laps performed by James Rossiter. “We had a few issues which are still being investigated”explained the Briton after the session.
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“It’s always handicapping, whether it’s a first race or not, adds his friend from 94, Loïc Duval. It’s boring to have little rolling when the time devoted to it is limited. » Nevertheless, the French driver put things into perspective and preferred to remember the good side of the session. “The sister car has roughed up a lot of things. It’s up to us to try to catch up, but that shouldn’t be the main objective, because that’s where we’re going to mess up. »
With two new cars whose debugging was carried out a little more than a week beforehand on the Magny-Cours circuit, seeing a technical problem appear on one of the two 9X8s is not surprising. “It bothered us, but it’s not a major problem”, reassured Duval. The Habs were able to return to the track for four loops at the end of the session, bringing the number of laps completed by their prototype to 12. A return to the track to determine if the solution to the problem had been found. If that wasn’t the case yet, “this shouldn’t be a problem tomorrow (Saturday. Editor’s note) “, he assures.
His compatriot Jean-Éric Vergne remained cautious despite the 40 laps achieved by the n°93 and the third fastest time. “It’s always difficult to judgetempered PHENOMENON. I don’t know enough yet to tell me if it’s good or not. The only thing we can do is evaluate our car and improve it if necessary for the race. » A day that ended in a funny misadventure for Jean-Éric Vergne. When he was due to perform an FIA-requested driver extraction exercise, the stewards arrived late and used the fire extinguisher on the car while it was still unsecured.
See you this Saturday from 9 a.m. for the next Free Practice session.