Nicolas Lapierre recently called time on his professional motor racing career after having stood on Alpine’s first podium with their A424 LMDh machine.
The 40-year-old announced his professional retirement on 2 October 2024, having first stepped into sportscar racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 17 years ago.
Furthermore, he stood on the podium in his final race at the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Fuji.
The Frenchman made the switch from single-seaters to sportscar racing at the end of the 2000s as the majority of drivers – including himself – aimed for Formula 1.
What was an unconventional move became one of the sportscar’s most respected drivers having competed at the heart of the headline projects at Peugeot, Toyota and Alpine.
His longevity within the discipline is owed to his matured and cunning approach to motorsport having built up a plethora of experience.
He won the 12 Hours of Sebring twice, the World Endurance Championship LMP2 championship title thrice and the Le Mans 24 Hours four times in the competitive LMP2 category.
He never quite secured a coveted overall victory at Le Mans with a best of P3 overall on two occasions, having endured instances of misfortune which prevented his high chances.
In spite of that, his career tells a story of a resilient, ambitious racing driver who developed a heartfelt love and commitment to sportscar racing.
A foundation in junior single-seaters
Lapierre, as most racing drivers, began his journey in karting and junior single-seater series.
In the 2000s, the screaming V10 and V8 engines of Formula 1 beckoned not only motorsport fanatics, but drivers too.
He competed in Formula Renault machinery from 2000 with difficulty finding success until finishing third in the 2002 Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup championship.
The following year, however, was when he first drove for the team – and team principal – he would achieve success with much later in in his career. This was current Alpine team principal Phillippe Sinault’s Signature Team in Formula 3.
Lapierre gained his first major victory at the iconic Macau Grand Prix with Signature.
In 2004, he continued in the same team in the F3 Euroseries but broke through to successful results.
From seven podiums and three wins out of 20 races, he earned third in the standings – against the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica who finished fifth and seventh.
This furthered Lapierre's career into GP2 — known until the end of 2004 as F3000 — the series one step beneath the Formula 1 championship.
Arden – a team ran by Christian and Garry Horner – was fast becoming the way for certain championship-winning sportscar drivers such as Filipe Albuquerque, Sebastien Buemi and Neel Jani to make a name for themselves in junior formulae.
Unfortunately, it wasn't to be for young Lapierre, who did take one victory in 2005.
Alongside this commitment was the A1 Grand Prix series ,which had drivers from all over the world proudly representing their countries.
Lapierre shone in his 2005-06 campaign having claimed six victories, plus one second-placed finish despite only two pole positions as he showcased his material during the 11 races held.
After winning the A1 GP championship, he finished fourth in the following season.
The intrigue of Le Mans
In the midst of his single-seater career, Lapierre was drawn by the histioric allure of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the most iconic motorsport races, having begun in 1923.
At the 2007 edition, a curious 23-year-old Lapierre took the step and debuted with Hugues de Chaunac’s Oreca-run Saleen S7-R.
Piloting a GT1 car with a brutal 7.0L Ford V8 and 600 horsepower made for a unique debut, and the well-respected founder of Oreca would continue his racing relationship with Lapierre for many years to come.
He finished in the top-10 of his category with co-drivers Stephane Ortelli and Soheil Ayari.
He focused greatly on reaching Formula 1 – as most drivers did – and thus did not think much about sportscars.
After three GP2 seasons, however, the door to F1 was closing and his taste of Le Mans and endurance racing tempted him down that pathway.
A full-time commitment into sportscars
From 2008, he fully committed to a discipline which sprung opportunities to work with significant projects, manufacturers and top-level team members.
This commitment was of the fullest extent in sportscars and sustained for 15 years.
Lapierre drove in the Le Mans Series’ LMP1 category for Oreca-Matmut which begun his lifelong affiliation with Oreca.
He co-drove in 2008 with 1996 Monaco Grand Prix winner Olivier Panis though unluckily retired from three events and only took one podium at the 1000 km of Spa-Francorchamps.
Next year returned more success for the duo with the Oreca 01 LMP1, designed by current Toyota GAZOO Racing technical director David Floury.
They scored two pole positions and finished fifth at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year – with Ayari’s assistance – in what was Lapierre’s first 24-hour race in Le Mans Prototype machinery.
Panis and Lapierre claimed their first win at the 1000 km of Silverstone season finale.
Lapierre’s run as a Peugeot driver
Many can characterise the end of the 2000s and the very beginning of the 2010s with a rivalry in the ACO-run championships – Le Mans Series and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup – between Audi and Peugeot.
The former were the undisputed benchmark having dominated the top of sportscar prototype racing with eight wins before Peugeot mastered to victory in 2009.
The French Oreca-affiliated make returned to endurance racing utilising diesel powertrains like Audi.
Just as iconic as was Peugeot’s 2009 victory, was their tragedy in 2010 when all four Peugeots 908 HDi LMP1 cars retired at intermittent points throughout the race – all whilst in the lead fight.
Lapierre was part of the #4 Oreca-Peugeot crew which was the last of the four Peugeots to drop.
Along with Panis and Loic Duval, the trio fought for a place on the podium during the early hours of Sunday morning before an oil-related fire caused them to retire after 373 laps.
Audi, meanwhile, finished all three cars on the overall podium.
In spite of this, Lapierre’s first major sportscar victory came at the gruelling 12 Hours of Sebring in the following year.
Having faced heartbreak together at Le Mans, the trio sought redemption at the notoriously bumpy Sebring International Raceway.
In fact, they beat the Peugeot works entry to claim victory at the 58th running of the event.
A new chapter with Toyota
Twenty-twelve was a significant year in the sportscar world after the formation of the FIA World Endurance Championship, returning the series name for the first time since 1992 – when coincidently Peugeot were the last Teams’ Champions.
Toyota marked a return to top-level sportscar prototype racing with a new LMP1 hybrid programme, also marking Lapierre’s long tenure with the Japanese make.
Audi continued into the new era as Peugeot withdrew their project at the last moment.
Lapierre was no stranger to ACO-rules racing but was primed to work his talent at the wheel of the TS030 Hybrid.
Misfortune struck again at Le Mans after briefly fighting for the lead during the early morning, due to an engine failure.
Post-Le Mans, however, Lapierre and co-driver Alexander Wurz won three races.
Toyota F1-affiliate Kazuki Najakima joined the duo for 2013 and they all endured a challenging season.
Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi won the 2014 WEC LMP1 Drivers’ Championship in the TS040 Hybrid – against the likes of Audi and Porsche.
Their races with Lapierre’s assistance in the first four races, however, should not be overlooked after they won at Silverstone and Spa, and a podium at Le Mans and COTA.
Unforeseen LMP2 downgrade returns Le Mans success
Lapierre won six races with Toyota across the years, and lost his 2015 seat at the beginning of that year.
This meant that the Frenchman resorted to the LMP2 category to continue his WEC efforts.
Hong Kong-based team KCMG ran an Oreca 05-Nissan LMP2, whilst Toyota’s TS040 struggled to fight competitively with the updated machinery from Audi and Porsche.
Lapierre participated in the European Le Mans all the meanwhile, so his three WEC races that year were not his only sportscar commitments.
Lapierre stood on the podium in his three races with Brits Matthew Howson and Richard Bradley, having replaced a Porsche-committed Nick Tandy.
This included a momentous victory at Le Mans which was the first of four in Lapierre’s career.
Continuing the LMP2 momentum at Alpine
In 2016, Lapierre returned to the Signature outfit – known as Signatech Alpine.
This solidified his first full WEC season and returned even more success with teammates Gustavo Menezes and Stephane Richelmi.
When Toyota notably faced last lap heartbreak at Le Mans, Lapierre and his crew commanded their way to win in the LMP2 category or fifth overall.
The season gave them four class victories and only two instances when they did not finish on the podium out of nine races – thus earning championship title glory.
Oreca was still associated with the Toyota LMP1 project in 2017 albeit it was their final year in the partnership.
This meant that Lapierre returned in Toyota’s third TS050 Hybrid for the 6 Hours of Spa and 24 Hours of Le Mans but unfortunately did not succeed at the latter.
A bright Super-Season for Alpine and Lapierre
The WEC established a ‘Super-Season’ winter calendar from 2018 to 2019, including two Le Mans 24 Hours.
Alpine and Lapierre won both of these.
Consecutive Le Mans wins highlight the strength of both a driver and their team to have successfully carried their form over the course of a year – something which Toyota begun with the sparse LMP1 (hybrid) grid.
LMP2 was a competitive field yet Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Pierre Thiriet were a crew above all their rivals.
Whilst they inherited the 2018 Le Mans LMP2 win following the disqualification of G-Drive Racing, the 2019 edition saw them earn victory.
Lapierre became a four-time LMP2 Le Mans winner in his last four finishes at the historic event.
In 2018, additionally, Lapierre took his second Sebring 12 Hours win with Extreme Speed Motorsports’ Onroak DPi.
Alpine’s first ‘Hypercar’ seasons
Technically speaking, Alpine competed in the inaugural 2021 and 2022 seasons when the Hypercar category officially replaced LMP1.
They fielded a ‘grandfathered’ Rebellion R13 LMP1 which noted a lesser fuel capacity to the new Toyota GR010 Hybrid, in an attempt to prevent them from dominating in used machinery.
Alpine took third and second in the two consecutive championship standings with two wins in the latter season, at Sebring’s 1000-mile event which was cut short by the threat of thunder and lightning and the first 6 Hours of Monza.
After missing 2023, 2024 was the real year when more manufacturers flourished the Hypercar category and Alpine fielded their Oreca-developed A424 LMDh car.
Le Mans misfortune and retiring on a high at Fuji
The heavily modified Mecachrome-originated engine drew doubts with its unsuccessful record at Le Mans and poor reliability in the FIA Formula 2 cars.
This reality struck Alpine where it hurt most at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxivierre and Mick Schumacher were part of the #36 crew which was the latter of the two Alpines to retire, both before the race entered its sixth hour.
Misfortune, it seemed, denied Lapierre another chance at the top of Le Mans competition.
Three races later though, Alpine took their first podium finish in the vicinity of Fuji-san.
Third place at the end of the six-hour race marked Lapierre’s 47th and final WEC podium finish.
Despite the misfortune, the challenges, and never winning overall at Le Mans, Lapierre distinguished himself as a humble yet fierce driver behind the wheel – who ran under the radar within sportscar racing.
His new sporting director role will benefit Alpine into their second Hypercar season with valuable experiences of the utmost kind.
After Alpine’s maiden year, who knows what results could come as Alpine unlocks further potential of the A424 in a competitive Hypercar category.