Early
Peugeot win Indianapolis 500 in 1913.Peugeot was involved in motorsport from the earliest days and entered five cars for the Paris-Rouen Trials in 1894 with one of them, driven by Lemaitre, finishing second. These trials are usually regarded as the first motor sporting competition. Participation in a variety of events continued until
World War I, but it was in 1912 that Peugeot made its most notable contribution to motor sporting history when one of their cars, driven by
Georges Boillot, won the
French Grand Prix at Dieppe. This revolutionary car was powered by a
straight-4 engine designed by Ernest Henry under the guidance of the technically knowledgeable racing drivers
Paul Zuccarelli and
Georges Boillot. The design was very influential for racing engines as it featured for the first time
DOHC and four valves per cylinder providing for high engine speeds, a radical departure from previous racing engines which relied on huge displacement for power. In 1913 Peugeots of similar design to the 1912 Grand Prix car won the
French Grand Prix at Amiens and the
Indianapolis 500. When one of the Peugeot racers remained in the United States during
World War I and parts could not be acquired from France for the 1914 season, owner
Bob Burma had it serviced in the shop of
Harry Miller by a young mechanic named
Fred Offenhauser. Their familiarity with the Peugeot engine was the basis of the famed
Miller racing engine, which later developed into the
Offenhauser.[
edit]Rallying
Peugeot 205 Turbo 16.Peugeot has had much success in international
rallying, most notably in the
World Rally Championship with the four-wheel-drive turbo-charged versions of the
Peugeot 205, and more recently the
Peugeot 206. In 1981,
Jean Todt, former co-driver for
Hannu Mikkola,
Timo Mäkinen and
Guy Fréquelin among others, was asked by Jean Boillot, the head of Automobiles Peugeot, to create a competition department for PSA Peugeot Citroën.
[41] This was established at
Vélizy-Villacoublay, France.
[42] The resulting
Peugeot Talbot Sport debuted its
Group B 205 Turbo 16 at the 1984
Tour de Corse in May, and took its first world rally win that same year at the
1000 Lakes Rally in August, in the hands of
Ari Vatanen.
[43] Excluding an endurance rally where Peugeot were not participating, Vatanen went on win five world rallies in a row.Peugeot's domination continued in the
1985 season. Despite Vatanen's nearly fatal accident in
Argentina, in the middle of the season, his team-mate and compatriot
Timo Salonen led Peugeot to its first
drivers' and
manufacturers' world championship titles, well ahead of
Audi and their
Audi Sport Quattro. In the
1986 season, Vatanen's young replacement
Juha Kankkunen beat
Lancia's
Markku Alén to the drivers' title and Peugeot took its second manufacturers' title ahead of Lancia. Following
FIA's banning of Group B cars for
1987, in May after
Henri Toivonen's fatal accident, Todt was outraged and even (unsuccessfully) pursued legal action against the federation.
[41] Peugeot then switched to
rally raids. Using the 205 and a
405, Peugeot won the
Dakar Rally four times in a row from 1987 to 1990; three times with Vatanen and once with Kankkunen.
206 WRC.In
1999, Peugeot returned to the World Rally Championship with the
206 WRC. The car was immediately competitive against such opposition as the
Subaru Impreza WRC, the
Ford Focus WRC and the
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
Marcus Grönholm gave the car its first win at the 2000
Swedish Rally, and Peugeot went on to win the manufacturers' title in their first full year since the return, and Grönholm the drivers' title in his first full WRC season. After successfully but narrowly defending their manufacturers' title in
2001, Peugeot Sport dominated the
2002 season, taking eight wins in the hands of Grönholm and
Gilles Panizzi. Grönholm also took the drivers' title. For the
2004 season, Peugeot retired the 206 WRC in favour of the new
307 WRC. The 307 WRC did not match its predecessor in success, but Grönholm took three wins with the car, one in 2004 and two in
2005. PSA Peugeot Citroën withdrew Peugeot from the WRC after the 2005 season, while
Citroën took a sabbatical year in 2006 and returned for the next season. Meanwhile, Gronholm departed Peugeot when they quit at the end of 2005 to partner young compatriot
Mikko Hirvonen at
Ford.[
edit]Touring car racing
Tim Harvey in a
406 during the
1996BTCC season.Throughout the mid-1990s, the
Peugeot 406 saloon (called a sedan in some countries) contested
touring carchampionships across the world, enjoying success in
France,
Germany and Australia, yet failing to win a single race in the
British Touring Car Championshipdespite a number of podium finishes under the command of 1992 British Touring Car Champion
Tim Harvey. In Gran Turismo 2 the 406 saloon description sums its racing career up as "a competitive touring car which raced throughout Europe".The British cars were prepared by a team from Peugeot UK's factory in Coventry in 1996, when they sported a red livery, and by MSD in 1997-1998, when they wore a distinctive green and gold flame design. Initially the 406's lack of success was blamed on suspension problems. During 1998 the 406 apparently lacked sufficient horsepower to compete with the front runners' Nissan Primeras and Honda Accords; this was mentioned during a particularly strong showing from Harvey's 406 at the Oulton Park BTCC meeting of 1998, when motorsport commentator
Charlie Cox stated "some people say (the 406) is down on power – you're kidding". During the first BTCC meeting at Silverstone in the same year, Cox mentions that MSD re-designed the 406 touring car "from the ground up".In 2001, Peugeot entered three 406 coupes into the British touring car championship to compete with the dominant
Vauxhall Astra coupes. Unfortunately the 406 coupe was at the end of its product life-cycle and was not competitive, despite some promise towards the end of the year, notably when Peugeot's Steve Soper led a race only to suffer engine failure in the last few laps. The 406 coupes were retired at the end of the following year and replaced with the
Peugeot 307—again, uncompetitively—in 2003.Peugeot has been racing in the
Stock Car Brasil series since 2007 and won the 2008 and 2009 championships.[
edit]Sports car racing
The
908 HDi FAP sports prototype, driven by
Jacques Villeneuve in 2007.In the 1990s the company competed in the
World Sportscar Championship as well as the
24 Hours of Le Mans race with the
905. After early problems with reliability and aerodynamics, the 905 was successful in the
World Sportscar Championship, winning eight of the 14 races across the
1991 and
1992 seasons and winning the team and driver titles in 1992. Peugeot also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in
1992 and
1993.Peugeot returned to sportscar racing and Le Mans in 2007 with the diesel-powered
Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. At the
2007 24 Hours of Le Mans,
Stéphane Sarrazin secured
pole position but the 908s proved unreliable and ceded victory to
Audi. In
2008, the Sarrazin again earned a pole position but Audi prevailed once again. For the
2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs finished first and second overall, led by drivers
Marc Gené,
David Brabham, and
Alexander Wurz.[
edit]Formula One