Peugeot has confirmed that during the final lap of the Qatar 1812km race, the #93 Peugeot 9X8 ran out of fuel. Jean-Eric Vergne was able to bring the car back to the pits using electrical power, but due to this incident, the car was later disqualified as it did not meet the parc ferme conditions. Nico Muller, who is teammates with Vergne and Mikkel Jensen, expressed his disbelief at the situation, attributing the fuel shortage to a potential issue during the last refuelling pit stop. Muller also mentioned the disappointment of not being able to secure a second-place finish, which they believed they deserved. The car had held the second position for a significant portion of the race. Muller started in sixth place and managed to move up to third at the start, trailing behind Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari 499P and Michael Christensen in the pole-sitting #5 Porsche 963. Muller eventually overtook both cars to take the lead. However, Laurens Vanthoor in the sister #6 Porsche later moved up to second place and ultimately took the lead from Muller after the Swiss driver made a mistake while passing traffic. The #93 Peugeot remained in second place until the end of the race. Meanwhile, Callum Ilott in the third-placed #12 JOTA Porsche 963 was closing in on Vergne in the final laps, while also being pursued by Matt Campbell in the #5 Porsche. Unfortunately, disaster struck for the Peugeot as Vergne seemed to lose power when crossing the finish line to start the final lap. He managed to bring the car home in seventh place, but as mentioned earlier, the car was later disqualified. Jean-Marc Finot, Stellantis Motorsport boss, commended the performance of Team Peugeot TotalEnergies in the race and highlighted the potential of the car. He acknowledged the refuelling problem during the last pit stop and expressed the team’s focus on investigating the issue. Finot also mentioned their excitement for the next round at Imola and their plans to build on the performance of the 2023 version of the PEUGEOT 9X8. The upcoming race at Imola will mark the debut of the new version of the 9X8, which is expected to feature a rear wing and adhere to standardised wheel/tyre sizes, in line with the LMH-rules Hypercars. The 6 Hours of Imola is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 21st.
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