Quote Originally Posted by Rally Power View Post
PSA always said they could return to the WEC, as long new rules allowing a huge cost cut would be presented: https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-ne...rn-to-le-mans/

The WEC is mainly about LM and LM is still a huge name, not only in Europe but also in the US and Asia, markets where PSA is interested to go or expand. Besides, as I’ve said the other day, PSA seems to be drifting from full in-house programs to partnerships with external companies, allowing them to share different knowhows and save on overall costs, something clearly not easy to find in the WRC.

No matter how sad it’s to know Citroen will leave in 2022, as a rally fan I can only thank them for being in the WRC for almost 20 years and continuing to support the sport with their costumeur programs. Salut!
Exactly this, Peugeot have wanted to be back in WEC/Le Mans for a while, but while the Hybrid arms race between Audi/Porsche/Toyota was in full swing they simply couldn’t or didn’t want to afford it. To be fair the budgets that were talked about for Audi and Porsche were insane, and basically for 1 race as the others don’t have huge reach to the public.
The budget level they are talking about now for the new Hypercar class is significantly less than we hear Toyota and Hyundai are spending on WRC, so I can see the appeal for PSA, and they get the LM24 into the mix, which as has been said is a big deal for them.