Peugeot Quits Le Mans

[ESPImperium]

http://t.co/k6tINeNY

Not sure if this is a good move or not??? Smells a bit of Toyota, BMW and Hondas withdrawl from F1.

[RacingManiac]

Difference being they were quite successful(except at the 24 hours itself, with 1 win to Audi's 5 since 2006). And the car was clearly the benchmark of the class....

You gotta think its in the card the whole time though, since the spending between Audi and Peugeot has to be quite ridiculous in the last few years...

[xpensive]

With the Eurozone economy in free fall, this is only logical and might be followed by Audi and god forbid...MGP/AMG in F1?

[WhiteBlue]

With the Eurozone economy in free fall, this is only logical and might be followed by Audi ....

No way! Audi is doing all right. They just confirmed their strategy to race in Le Mans. It will just become easier for them to grab the silver ware if Peugeot do not show up.

[munudeges]

Given the state of France and the Eurozone, not a great surprise. Bring on PURE!

[Ray]

Sad to see, but inevitable. Glad I went to Petit Le Mans this year, I wouldn't have gotten to see them otherwise. Shame Audi has basically no competition in Le Mans now and they have repeatedly said they aren't going anywhere from sports cars. Maybe they'll drop down into a lower class like GT. That would be fun to see. If they do I'm really going to miss the diesels. They were jaw dropping.

[WhiteBlue]

It just crossed my mind that without a French diesel team the ACO might become a lot more pro petrol.

[xpensive]

I'm afraid that this might open the door for other manufacturers, a chain reaction like in 2008 when everyone all of a sudden pulled out of F1. The looming Euro-crash will make Lehman brothers collapse look like a cozy garden party.

Greece is effectively bankrupt, Italy not far behind and France is doesn't look too hot either, when the sh*t finally hits the fan it will affect Germany as well of course, where no company will be immune.

Good thing to make your living in Norway these days, with 400 GEUR in the bank and more in the pipeline.

[WhiteBlue]

The Euro crisis is not going to take very long now. It was caused by Greece not meeting the budgeting standards of Europe in the first place. It is only sensible to let them go bust and back to Drachmas. After all Britain has never been a user of the Euro and it has not seriously hurt those countries which are. So why should a country that faked its books to join not be allowed to drop out of the Euro zone where it obviously does not belong?

My view is that the rules will be tightened, the Greeks will go and the crisis will be over pretty soon.

Companies that sponsor motor sport in order to promote their business will continue to do so if the value is there in the contracts. No economic crisis will push the successful brands out of business. Therefore most of what we currently see will remain in F1 and LMP. That at least is my opinion. A crisis always hit those who are gambling and not those who wisely invest with good returns.

One good aspect of the crisis is the ongoing debate to alternate the two Spanish GPs. That would be nice indeed. Lets have two US GPs. One Spanish race is enough. Both venues do not exactly produce good races. The fans will be pleased.

[scuderiafan]

So Audi's going to be racing themselves and a single Toyota entry in this years LM24? Porsche will be their only real challenge, but that's not for a couple of years. I agree, I see rules in the future that will favor a gasoline/hybrid car. I don't think the ACO would make the rules to favor only gasoline-powered cars, as they want to have more of a "green" look to the racing.

[andartop]

I guess Peugeot had no option really, just like the Greeks. If only the Greeks were allowed by the big players to quit the Euro earlier they might have had a better chance of survival, like Peugeot..

[blokkie]

So Audi's going to be racing themselves and a single Toyota entry in this years LM24? Porsche will be their only real challenge, but that's not for a couple of years. I agree, I see rules in the future that will favor a gasoline/hybrid car. I don't think the ACO would make the rules to favor only gasoline-powered cars, as they want to have more of a "green" look to the racing.

+1
Peugeot gone , but here comes Toyota and Porsche !

That comment about diesel going away with the departure of peugeot and things would go in te petrol direction again does not make any sense.

Toyota and Porsche are bringing hybrid tech , and audi is following suit. So a more diesel/petrol+electric trend is indeed more likely.

[blokkie]

I guess Peugeot had no option really, just like the Greeks. If only the Greeks were allowed by the big players to quit the Euro earlier they might have had a better chance of survival, like Peugeot..

How can one compare a car manufacturer with a country ? That really does not make any sense.

I think Euro politics don't belong here. I can see based on the comments that probably a lot of posters here are Brits and tend to be negative about the Euro and what not, but let's stay focussed on the peugeot topic and not drag European politics in .

Thx !

[scuderiafan]

So Audi's going to be racing themselves and a single Toyota entry in this years LM24? Porsche will be their only real challenge, but that's not for a couple of years. I agree, I see rules in the future that will favor a gasoline/hybrid car. I don't think the ACO would make the rules to favor only gasoline-powered cars, as they want to have more of a "green" look to the racing.

+1
Peugeot gone , but here comes Toyota and Porsche !

That comment about diesel going away with the departure of peugeot and things would go in te petrol direction again does not make any sense.

Toyota and Porsche are bringing hybrid tech , and audi is following suit. So a more diesel/petrol+electric trend is indeed more likely.

Right, the ACO won't drop diesel or anything, but I think that the rules will be more friendly towards a hybrid setup. It's a shame too, because the idea of a diesel race car is great, especially (in Europe mostly) because many cars on the roads today are powered by diesel. I think though, because Peugeot, who is Audi's direct rival, is gone, the diesel era will fade a bit, and the hybrid era will begin.

[scuderiafan]

I'm suspicious of Peugeot's decision. Supposedly the factory didn't know about the bad news until around 4:00 PM and the press release was an hour later. Kind of fishy to me, especially because the team was preparing for testing at Sebring, and they just received the '12 tubs. IIRC, they never showed signs of pulling out of endurance racing. They also won't let any privateers run their cars, which is odd I believe.

I guess that's the way racing goes though. They through millions at racing, and they weren't as successful as they wanted to be, so they pulled out and cashed their chips before they started taking real heavy losses.

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