Nick Cassidy spun into the gravel on his debut in the Peugeot 9X8 – while he describes the mistake as annoying, something else worries him more
Nick Cassidy experienced a difficult debut in the WEC hypercar class. The New Zealander, who was at the wheel for Peugeot for the first time in Imola, admitted his own mistakes after a trip into the gravel trap, but sees the French manufacturer’s main problem as the car’s lack of basic speed.
Cassidy took over the 93 Peugeot (di Resta/Vandoorne/Cassidy) after just over two hours of racing. Directly after leaving the pits, he lost the rear end on cold tires when turning into the Tamburello chicane. The car ended up in the gravel after a heavy counter-spin.
The car was recovered and Cassidy was able to continue the race, but the time loss of two laps could not be made up.
“I simply lost the car on cold tires. It’s a stupid situation, absolutely not ideal. But at the same time, I’m not the first person this has happened to and I’m sure I won’t be the last. That’s just the way it is.”
Back during the prologue, Marco Sörensen had already thrown away the Aston Martin Valkyrie after a similar mistake. Cassidy therefore emphasized that he was in good company with this mishap, but regretted the timing:
“It’s just a shame that it happened in my first race of all races. I was pushing hard. We weren’t particularly fast, so I wanted to get everything out of the situation and probably overdid it a bit.”
After the recovery, the remaining stints went largely smoothly for Cassidy, even though he was hardly involved in any direct duels due to blue flags and the gap. However, the pace of the 9X8 is causing him concern.
“To be honest: We simply need more performance if we want to fight against the others,” he summarizes soberly. If the basis of the car was right, the rest would come by itself.