**After a season start delayed by the conflict in the Middle East, the WEC made its return at Imola this weekend. This was an opportunity for Théo Pourchaire and the crew of the Peugeot N°94 to train their new mount with ambition.**
Théo Pourchaire resumed competition at Imola with a measured approach, but with a clear desire to settle into his new role. The driver of the **Peugeot n°94** consistently completed stints throughout the weekend. The native of Grasse returned to an environment he already knew, but with a different responsibility. **The status of a main driver** now shapes his work and his discourse.
*”The feeling is good. It’s exciting to start the new season because it’s been a while since we last raced,”* he explained in the paddock before the start of the first weekend of the season. The discovery of the race weekend, the atmosphere of the WEC, and managing traffic marked his comeback. He also reminded everyone of his attachment to the Italian circuit, a track he has long appreciated where he notably raced a lot in [F2](http://www.nicepremiu…pense/).
Confidence is now building, fueled by [his appearance in Bahrain at the end of 2025](http://www.nicepremiu…pprendre/) and joining a stable crew with Malthe Jakobsen and Loïc Duval. The trio found a work balance from the first laps. Additionally, Peugeot approaches the 2026 season with **a 9X8 similar to the previous version**, but with a reorganized technical framework. The team worked on settings, damping, and managing the hybrid system.
## **An Ideal Weekend Start**
From the first practice session, Peugeot appeared as the second strongest team behind the home-based Ferraris. The N°94 of the crew led by [Théo Pourchaire](https://www.theopourc…) was fifth, just ahead of the other car from the lion brand. This performance was repeated in the afternoon during the second session with a significant time improvement of more than a second, proving the car has **great potential to exploit** despite limited development.
However, on Saturday, during the final practice session, while everyone was managing to improve their time, the crew of the N°94 remained stuck at 1’31″4, dropping to the 10th position before the qualifying session.
## **Tightest Qualification in History**
For this first meeting of the season on the exercise of the fastest lap, it was **Malthe Jakobsen** who had the honor to perform. In a qualification that was the tightest in history with four cars within less than 0.075 seconds, the young 22-year-old Dane managed to grab **the fourth place** by searching for every hundredth. An enviable position compared to the second Peugeot, which ended up at the back in 15th place.
In the race, the story was a bit more complicated. Quickly outpaced during the race, the Peugeot N°94 never really impacted the race. Loïc Duval started the race to **hand over to Théo Pourchaire** after two hours of racing in tenth position.
**Coming out fourteenth from the pits** on cold tires, the driver from Grasse needed a few laps to find his rhythm and attempt to catch up with the cars in front. Long blocked behind the Aston Martin 009 and under pressure from the 007, the driver from the French Riviera was not intimidated. Under VSC regime, the team asked him to pit after just a few laps to attempt a strategic gamble. Thanks to this offset, he managed to take a provisional 7th position. **Being at ease in traffic**, the end of the stint was more challenging for Théo Pourchaire as he was overtaken by Robin Frijns in his much faster BMW. Under pressure from the Aston Martin, **the Azurite eventually handed over the wheel to Malthe Jakobsen in 8th position**.
The crew finally finished the race in **12th place**, one lap behind the winning Toyota N°8 of this first race at Imola. They now set their sights on the six hours of Spa on May 9 with the goal to find more race pace.
