2013 has been a special year for PEUGEOT – not just because of intense new product activity with the performance hot-hatch 208 GTi, the luxurious 208 XY, the versatile 2008 Crossover and the amazing New 308 but also, in the field of extreme car performance, one car stood out way ahead of the field. In June the PEUGEOT 208 T16 Pikes Peak car, in the hands of nine-times World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb, shattered the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record with a breath-taking time of 8m13.878s – beating his nearest rival by 48-seconds at the near 100-year old event.

Recognising this impressive achievement, BBC TopGear Magazine has awarded the PEUGEOT 208 T16 Pikes Peak its 2013 ‘Racecar of the Year’.

This month’s Awards Issue of the BBC TopGear Magazine carries the report on their ‘Racecar of the Year’: Peugeot 208 T16 “At Pikes Peak this summer, Peugeot had one road, one driver and one chance for glory. It needed a car that would win. The 875bhp T16 was that car.”

Also this week, the Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak was named Autosport 2013 ‘Rally Car of the Year’ at the AUTOSPORT Awards in London, collected on PEUGEOT Sport’s behalf by Ari Vatanen, winner of the same event in the sensational PEUGEOT 405 T16 in 1988.

“What Sébastien did was quite something,” Vatanen said. “I advise you to go to Pikes Peak once – the road goes a very long way round, but miss your braking and it’s a short three mile drop back to the start. I think rally drivers are very privileged to do things like this. It was an incredible feat.”

In the magazine’s opinion, the 208 T16 beat several World Rally Cars – including Volkswagen’s all-conquering Polo – X-Raid’s Dakar Mini and the Skoda Fabia S2000 to win the award.

Source: Peugeot