Nicolas Lapierre will assume this position of sporting director from January 1, 2025. A new status for the 40-year-old Haut-Savoyard who announced his retirement from sports on Wednesday with immediate effect, his last race being the 6 Hours of Fuji (September 15, podium alongside Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere Editor’s note). He will support the main team of the French team, Philippe Sinault.
Jules Gounon in the Alpine in Bahrain
« Alpine has always shown a lot of confidence in me by giving me the chance to develop the A424. (the LMDh used in competition by Alpine in the Hypercar category of the WEC. Editor’s note)then to start this first season at the wheel, declares Nicolas Lapierre. After having expressed the wish to end my career as a professional driver, I am delighted to confirm that I will continue the adventure with the team, but this time on the other side of the pit wall. I will try to bring all my experience to our drivers and to make the link with our technical teams more fluid. Endurance is on a good trajectory and I believe in the Alpine project. We must continue our tireless efforts to achieve the next milestones together. »
« I am delighted with the appointment of Nicolas as Sports Director within the Alpine Endurance Team, adds Philippe Sinault. For several months, we have been discussing this perspective together which for me, in addition to the shared desire, represents a real logic, a natural continuity of the rich journey made together in recent years and in particular under the Alpine colors. We grew up together, won many races and several titles! We know each other very well and the trust is mutual. I thank Nicolas for accepting, and I look forward to seeing him in his new role contribute to the development of the team. »
« From the start of the A424 program, Nicolas has been one of the key players, says Bruno Famin, VP Motorsports Alpine Racing. Itook the car for the first time and contributed greatly to its development. The podium obtained in Fuji is a magnificent reward for the work accomplished, for him and for the whole team. Nicolas Lapierre is part of the Alpine family. In addition to his human and driving qualities which no longer need to be demonstrated, in recent years he has acquired experience outside of the car. With Philippe, it became obvious to us that Nicolas could very naturally bring a lot to the team through this role of Sports Director and we are absolutely delighted that Nicolas accepted it. This will be a very significant contribution for the team which will thus be able to take a new step forward. »
Although he will officially begin this new chapter of his career at the start of next year, Lapierre will take advantage of the last race of the 2024 season in Bahrain to immerse himself in his new role. As expected, the reservist Jules Gounon will complete the crews of the A arrowed brand for the finale of this exercise, the 8 Hours of Bahrain (November 2). Lapierre will not be in unknown territory with this new role of sporting director, because in parallel with his long and successful career as a driver, the native of Thonon-les-Bain has in recent seasons taken care of his own team, COOL Racing, entered notably in LM P2 in the European Le Mans Series.
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