Just this morning, Peugeot has announced that they will be cutting all activity within their sportscar program for 2012.  The French auto manufacturing giant has been competing in endurance races with their 908 HDI FAP Le Mans prototype since 2007, and have had great success with the car, especially recently.  Competing primarily against Audi’s R10, R15, and R18 diesel prototypes, Peugeot have won at Le Mans with the program in 2009, and secured last year’s Intercontinental Le Mans Cup title by winning each race of the series barring Audi’s stunning win at Le Mans. [Source: Autosport.com] With the ILMC becoming the World Endurance Championship this year with added rounds and exciting new venues, Peugeot was scheduled to go head to head with Audi once more in preparation for added competition from factory Toyota prototypes in 2013, and Porsche prototypes in 2014.  The withdrawal of Peugeot places Audi as the sole factory supported LMP1 team in the series, and will surely dampen the excitement without competitive racing. This decision has come due to Peugeot’s decline in car sales in recent years.  In a statement earlier today, a representative of the company stated “This decision has been taken in the context of a difficult economic environment in Europe, Peugeot has chosen to concentrate resources on its sales performance in 2012.” Peugeot is just busy doing what the French are known for.  Flying the white flag.  Audi has won the last two 24 hours of Le Mans, and Peugeot is running away with their tails between their legs.  Cheese-eating surrender monkeys, the lot of them! [Post-break image courtesy of DesktopMachine.com]