The Peugeot 207 S2000 Evolution joins the fray

Thanks to its new Spec-3 300hp engine, modified front-end layout, optimised gearbox and transmission, lighter brakes, revised damper calibration and new onboard data acquisition system, the Peugeot 207 S2000 Evolution has all the ingredients to stand out as its class’s benchmark. It is poised to make its competition debut on this weekend’s Rallye Sanremo (September 24-25), round 10 of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

The 207 S2000, the worthy successor to a long line of winning Peugeot rally cars

Since the beginning of 2010, Peugeot Sport’s engineers have been working without letup on the development and optimisation of the performance of the 207 S2000, winner of consecutive IRC crowns in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The fruit of their work has gradually found its way onto the cars seen on events and has been tested on a priority basis by Peugeot’s S2000 test drivers Kris Meeke and Bryan Bouffier.

"Competition departments strive to improve the performance of their cars all the time, and that is especially true at Peugeot whose engineers are never short of innovative ideas," says the manager of Peugeot Sport’s customer competition department, Frédéric Bertrand. "The 207 S2000 has evolved throughout its career to maintain its place at the very highest level, as illustrated by Bryan Bouffier on the Barum Rally at the end of August and by Paolo Andreucci’s top results in the Italian Championship. The crews backed by our subsidiaries will be out to provide a further demonstration of this on next weekend’s Rallye Sanremo, and the time has come for our customers, too, to be able to benefit from the very latest developments in their respective fights

The principal modifications that Peugeot Sport has introduced are:

— a new Spec-3 300hp engine
— optimised gearbox and transmission performance
— lighter front and rear brakes
— modified front-end layout (revised subframe, radius arms and steering tie-rods)
— new damper calibration
— onboard Magneti Marelli data acquisition system
— doors which comply with the upcoming 2011 FIA regulations
— co-driver’s data display kit.

All these new features are now available for customers in kit form or in the form of complete cars. Delivery of orders is scheduled to begin at the end of October 2010.

"This is the car to win in 2011, yet it has been engineered to deliver the same unrivalled, easy-to-run performance/reliability package for its price that helped forged the success of the original 207 S2000," says Frédéric Bertrand.

Evolution versions of the 207 S2000 will contest this weekend’s Rallye Sanremo in the hands of Peugeot UK’s defending IRC champion Kris Meeke, the four-time Italian Champion Paolo Andreucci, who is challenging for a fifth crown this year, Bryan Bouffier, who has been entered on this occasion by Peugeot Italy, Peugeot Portugal’s Bruno Magalhaès, and Peugeot Belgium-Luxemburg’s rising youngster Thierry Neuville.