Peugeot Sport announced they have decided to trust Team Oreca Matmut with a LMP1 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP prototype for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2010 and 2011. According to the announcement, Oreca was chosen for their professionalism, performance record and because they were able to prove the availability of the funds required to run the Peugeot prototype at the 24 Hours.
We all remember that last year Pescarolo Sport was chosen to race the spare 908 at the 24 Hours, but that didn’t turn out very well. Pescarolo’s 908 HDi collided with a factory Peugeot in the pit lane. It was clearly Peugeot’s fault. Le Mans rules are very clear: a car cannot leave the pit as long as another car is running on the pit lane. Pescarolo’s Peugeot was already running when the factory Peugeot was instructed to leave and the two cars collided. Even though it was clearly their fault, Peugeot tried to blame it on Pescarolo. That didn’t work and apparently Peugeot haven’t gotten over it yet because this year Peugeot’s spare diesel prototype will go to Oreca instead.
How bad is this for Pescarolo? Hard to say. Pescarolo is now part of a powerful industrial group and the multiple La Mans winner has proven very resourceful in the past so I’m confident he’ll always find a way to tackle big factory teams. Go Pesca!