WEC/F1: Peugeot premiere and Spielberg gala 🎥
THIS IS NOTHING TO MISS This weekend, Peugeot debuts its new hypercar in Monza, and ORF will be providing uninterrupted coverage of the Austrian GP and its supporting races in Spielberg on Saturday and Sunday.
After an intensive test program on various European race tracks, Peugeot Sport will be showing what its two new 9X8 hybrid sports prototypes are capable of in competition for the first time this weekend. Defending champions Toyota, Alpine and Glickenhaus thus have new strong competition in the top class of Le Mans hypercars.
Focus on Le Mans 2023
For the French, the 6-hour race in the Royal Park of Monza as well as the remaining rounds of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) are tests under racing conditions.
The primary goal then in 2023 is a successful return to Le Mans, where they once triumphed with the 905 from Group C with a naturally aspirated V10 engine and the 908 with the V12 diesel unit. Peugeot's renewed factory commitment underscores its current electrification strategy.
Own character of the 9X8
In the new racing car, which impresses with its aerodynamics (no rear wing) and paint scheme, the front axle is driven emission-free from a speed of 150 km/h by a 200 kW electric motor.
The rear axle is driven by a 2.6-liter biturbo engine. However, according to its BoP rating, the 9X8 is only allowed to deliver around 690 hp out of a possible 1000 hp, which is almost the same as the Toyota Hypercar.
Paul Di Resta (GB), Mikkel Jensen (DK) and Jean-Eric Vergne (F) will be running in car number #93, James Rossiter (GB), Gustavo Menezes (USA) and Loïc Duval (F) inb #94.
Resumption of great duels
With the triumph at Le Mans, the driver trio of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa reports back in the GR010 Hybrid with start number #8 back in the fight for the world championship. They traveled to Monza just three points behind their leading rivals from Alpine.
In the past, Toyota and Peugeot fought fierce duels in various endurance races. The last clash between the two rivals in the premier class took place at Le Mans in 1993, where Peugeot prevailed as it had the year before. After 29 years, the rivalry between the two brands is now being rekindled.
Last two hours live on Eurosport
Those who are not on site or do not subscribe to the Eurosport 2 pay-TV channel can follow the final phase of the race in Monza and the subsequent highlights free of charge on Eurosport 1 on Sunday, July 10, from 16:15 to 18:30.
With Mathias Beche, Louis Delétraz and Nico Müller in LMP2 and Rahel Frey, Thomas Flohr, Niki Leutwiler and Christoph Ulrich in the GT category, there are other Swiss with ambitions on the grid in addition to Buemi.
Second GP home game for Red Bull Racing
Immediately after the turbulent GP in Silverstone, the Formula One squad traveled to Styria, where the Austrian Grand Prix will once again be held in front of a completely sold-out crowd. There, too, the only way to victory is via world champion Max Verstappen and his team from Great Britain, which flies the Austrian flag because of Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz.
In 2021, the Dutchman won both consecutive Grands Prix at the Red Bull Ring from pole position and led all 142 laps.
Television marathon of the Austrians
Unfortunately, Swiss television on SRF info will only report on the eleventh world championship race with a time delay because cycling, tennis and women's soccer have priority. On Saturday, the sprint race will be broadcast from 21.20 to 22.10, the GP on Sunday from 21.20 to 23.20.
Austrian television will be putting its money where its mouth is. On Saturday, there will be continuous coverage from Spielberg from 10:15 a.m. to 5:40 p.m., including all the supporting races, and on Sunday from 8:30 a.m., starting with Formula 3 (with Jenzer Motorsport, among others) and continuing until 5:50 p.m. Eurosport 1 will also be reporting live from the Porsche Supercup with Alexander Fach and Fach Auto Tech on Sunday from 11:35 to 12:30.
Nordschleifenaction live on the Internet
There will be more motorsport on the Internet on Saturday with live coverage of the Nürburgring Endurance Series, whose fourth round of the season runs over 6 hours and starts at 12 noon.
The favorites from the GT3 class SP9 include a Mercedes-AMG with the Schwizer duo Philip Ellis/Miklas Born and one with Julien Apothéloz. In the 4-hour race on June 25, the two juniors Apothéloz (4th) and Born (5th) only just scraped past the first NLS podium.
The elaborately produced livestream on vln.com begins at 8:15 a.m. and ends with the award ceremony at approximately 6:30 p.m.
Extreme rally action in Sardinia
Finally, rally action can be seen on Sunday on the free TV channel ProSieben Maxx in the form of the Extreme E in Sardinia. The first of two races within half a week ended on Thursday evening with the victory of GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing.
Kyle LeDuc and Sara Price "only" finished second in the Top 5 final. But they were declared the winners after a time penalty against Rosberg X Racing (collision of Johan Kristoffersson with Carlos Sainz, who rolled over afterwards, see video).
Live TV coverage of the finals of the second race in Sardinia will run from 1 to 2:45 p.m.
monzanet.it/wec-fia-world-endurance-championship
