My Road Safety

Considering that French automaker Peugeot hasn’t sold cars in the U.S. for 20 years—and has no immediate plans to return—you’d think the company’s decision to end its participation in big-time endurance sports-car racing, effective immediately, wouldn’t have much impact on the American racing scene.

Au contraire: The American Le Mans Series was counting on Peugeot’s presence at the season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Sebring race, where in 2011 Peugeot took first and third. And while the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta is presently not a part of the new FIA World Endurance Championship—Sebring is, however—the ALMS and its fans were holding out hope that Peugeot and arch-rival Audi would make an appearance in Atlanta this fall, where last year Peugeot took first and second. Neither Audi nor Peugeot bothered to cross the ocean for regular-season ALMS races. In Peugeot’s case, that makes perfect sense; if you don’t sell cars here, what’s the point of vying for the championship?

So what happened to cause Peugeot to abandon its motorsports program? Two things, the first being pretty obvious: Money. Only Formula 1 requires greater development investment than do Le Mans–style prototypes, with their ever-increasing technology and ever-changing rules. Peugeot’s parent company, PSA Peugeot Citroën, may not be on the financial ropes, but it nevertheless has felt the effects of the tough economy like every other manufacturer, with massive layoffs and cost-cutting needed to fund substantial investments in new products. It has been no secret in the racing community that Peugeot has been inquiring about having privateer teams either assist or take over the effort entirely for 2012, but clearly no deal could be made with an appropriate team.

The second factor is that Peugeot is facing not only the usual tough competition from Audi, but also new efforts from Toyota, which is returning to prototype endurance racing after having left Le Mans in 1999, the same year Audi arrived. BMW and Mercedes-Benz departed at that time, too, giving Audi a near-clear path to victory until Peugeot joined the fray five years ago. Porsche also will be joining the series in the near future, and competition from Porsche and Toyota would only mean increased costs for Peugeot to maintain its position as a front-runner, especially since future rules packages are expected to favor hybrids, thus almost requiring manufacturers to adopt the technology if they hope to win. Ironically, this was a move Peugeot was in the process of making. Over the last few years, the diesel-powered Audis and Peugeots were undeniably the class of the field, not only bringing stunningly fast cars to the track, but driver lineups that were the cream of the crop. This late-in-the-game announcement leaves Peugeot’s drivers and mechanics scrambling.

This year’s Le Mans race should be interesting nevertheless, even as people were looking forward to seeing if Peugeot could recover its crown. Audi won in 2011 despite having its two factory-entered cars crash in spectacular fashion; its lightly regarded third car (entered by a privateer team) captured the checkered flag.

In the U.S., though, the ALMS must deal with the absence of one of its two top teams from the 12 Hours of Sebring, which is March 17. Grand-Am’s 50th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Daytona, which takes place at the end of January, threatens to take a larger share of the sports-car spotlight, with new prototype cars that include factory-backed Chevrolet Corvette efforts, as well as new GT participation from Audi and Ferrari. Grand-Am also has a strong live TV package; ALMS races will be broadcast on a delayed, shortened basis. All ALMS races will, however, stream live over the internet.

ALMS head Scott Atherton attempted to blunt Peugeot’s announcement with his own statement: “While the announcement of Peugeot ending its factory participation in endurance racing comes as a real disappointment, it will take little—if any—luster off the spectacle of the 60th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Taking into account the start of our 14th season and the debut of the FIA World Endurance Championship, it still promises to be one of North America’s most epic events by all measures. There will still be a plethora of new cars, teams and manufacturers represented on the grid with plenty of entertainment available at the circuit. When we say Sebring is an event not to be missed, we mean it in the truest of ways.”

There remains a possibility, however slim, that a privateer team or two will cut a deal with Peugeot to run its 908 in one or more races this season, but that seems like a long shot. Unless that happens, it’s five years and done for a remarkable sports-car team, and at least a short-term headache for the ALMS.