Le Mans: Pescarolo keen to work with Peugeot

[Plex]

Henri Pescarolo believes that it would still make sense for his team to join forces with Peugeot for their Le Mans project.

The French team boss had expected to work with the manufacturer this year and, despite being overlooked for the project, he has said that he would still work with them if the opportunity arose.

"If there is a chance of working with Peugeot (in 2008) then why not do it?" Pescarolo was quoted as saying by Italian magazine Autosprint.

Pescarolo added that six Peugeot engineers had worked with his team at Le Mans last year and, after the race, he was told that they would be working together in 2007.

"I was ready to shut down my team, give up the name, and join up with Peugeot," he said. "I told them: 'We have the know-how, you have the money, we'll do great things together.'

"The truth is it wasn't worth it for Peugeot. If we won together, people would say it was thanks to Pescarolo, and if we lost they would say it's Peugeot's fault."

Pescarolo has made no secret of his feelings about the current rules at Le Mans, which he believes are weighed heavily in favour of diesel cars.

"I will fight for fairer regulations in 2008," he said. "Two hundred thousand people come to Le Mans to see a race, not a diesel parade."

World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb, who has raced for the team at Le Mans for the past two years, recently said that he will not compete in the race this year because he doesn't feel petrol cars can be competitive.

Autosport