KEY POINTS:
The flag drops on Peugeot's Le Mans series sports car challenge in March at the Sebring circuit in the United States - but the French carmaker is there not as a competitor.
Peugeot Sport technical director Bruno Famin has revealed that the new diesel-powered Peugeot 908 HDi is
to appear for testing only at the opener of the American Le Mans series.
The completely new car - developed from scratch in 15 months - then makes its race debut at Monza in Italy in April before moving on to Valencia in Spain in May.
Famin says it is too early in the development programme to take part in a race and the team wants to get between 20,000 and 30,000km of tests under its wheels before committing to a start.
"The first two rounds in Italy and Spain will be major tests for the 908 so we can amass as much information as we can before the big race in Le Mans," says Famin.
Peugeot has announced that Canada's former Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve will drive one of the two diesel-powered Peugeots at the Le Mans 24-hour race in June.
Villeneuve told Peugeot team manager Serge Saulnier he has dreamed of taking part in the famed 24-hour endurance race.
"He convinced me he could become the first driver in the world to win the big four major championships - Formula One, Champcar, Indianapolis and the Le Mans 24 Hours," says Saulnier.
Peugeot won Le Mans in 1992 and 1993 but began its current programme only after withdrawing from the World Rally Championship in 2005.
It is on record as saying that 2007 is a breaking-in year and the team will be going all out for victory in the famed sports car series in 2008.
Development of the Peugeot 908 HDi car and programme really only began 12 months ago following the decision in mid-2005 to compete on the world's toughest sports car circuit.
The Peugeot Sport team was reorganised to produce a mock-up of the V12 engine in June 2006, followed by a mock-up of the car body at the Paris motor show last September. The 908 race car was officially unveiled on January 10.
Two cars are committed in each of the six Le Mans races as well as the 24-hour marathon.
The 35-year-old Villeneuve is joined in the Peugeot squad by Spain's Marc Gene, who is Ferrari's Formula One test driver, Portugal's Pedro Lamy, French Champcar champion Sebastien Bourdais and fellow Frenchmen Nicolas Minassian and Stephane Sarrazin.
