Alexandre Emmanuel Imperatori (born 19 April 1987 in

Châtel-Saint-Denis Châtel-Saint-Denis (; frp, Châtél, locally ''Tsathi'' , or ''Châtél-Sent-Denis'', locally ''Tsathi-Chin-Dèni'') is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and district capital of the district of Veveyse (district), Veveyse in the Cant ...

) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

racing driver who lives in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China.

Career

Karting

Imperatori started

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

at the age of four in Spain. He raced karting in Spain and Germany and France until 2002. He was the France Junior Champion in 2000 and also competed in the European Championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Formula Racing

In 2003, Imperatori moved to single seater by reaching the final of the Mygale scholarship program. From 2004 to 2007, he competed in the 2006 and 2007

Asian Formula Renault Challenge The Formula Renault AsiaCup (formerly known as the Asian Formula Renault Challenge and AFR Series) is a Formula Renault 2.0 championship held in Asia. The series debuted in 2002 and also held the ''China Formula Renault Challenge''. The series i ...

and came 1st runner-up. He was also the 2006 China Formula Renault Challenge Champion, which earned him a test from Renault Sport in the

World Series by Renault The Renault Sport Series (formerly known as World Series by Renault) is a motor racing series. The series latterly consisted of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and used to contain the Renault Sport Trophy and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. T ...

. From December 2007, he joined the Swiss team in the

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

as rookie driver and together with the team won the 2007-2008 championship and came second in the 2008-2009 season. From 2008 to 2010, Imperatori was competing in the

All-Japan Formula Three Championship was a national motor racing championship that takes place in Japan. It is a junior-level feeder formula that uses small single seater Formula Three chassis. As a result of Formula 3 naming regulations by the FIA, on 13 August 2019, series pro ...

. In 2008, he came second in the National Class before achieving 3rd rank in 2009. In 2010, he stepped up to the Championship class with TODA Racing and using the single HONDA power unit of the grid, came 5th in the championship. In 2010, Imperatori finished his season with a good performance in the

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

by coming 12th after starting 26th on the grid due to a brake failure in the qualification race. In 2011, Imperatori stepped up to

Formula Nippon The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series. It is considered as being the top level of single-seater racing in Japan and regional motorsports in Asia. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and ...

, the highest level of single-seater racing in Japan.

GT Racing

In 2011, Imperatori also started becoming involved in GT racing. He replaced Christian Menzel at Team Starchase in Porsche Carrera Cup Asia and had a successful season by winning 8 of the 10 races he entered. He finished 3rd in the championship after missing the two races in Singapore due to conflicting racing commitments. Besides, the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia and Formula Nippon, Imperatori was also competing in the GT300 class of

Super GT Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as either the JGTC or the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is ...

in 2011 with the Lexus IS350 GT300 of SG Changi Racing. Together with teammate Orime, he won at Sugo and climbed on the podium two more times at Fuji and Autopolis. Imperatori finished the 2011 season with a win in the GTC category at the ILMC

6 Hours of Zhuhai The 6 Hours of Zhuhai is a sports car endurance race held at the Zhuhai International Circuit in Zhuhai, Guangdong, China. The race was first held in 1994 on a street circuit as a round of the BPR Global GT Series. It was held 7 times in 14 yea ...

for Audi Sport C Racing China. Imperatori won the 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Championship.

WEC and 24 Hours of Le Mans

In 2013, Imperatori was named as the lead driver for the new endurance racing project from

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

-based KC Motorgroup Ltd (KCMG) which saw him drive a

Morgan LMP2 The Pescarolo 01 is the first sports prototype racing car built entirely by French team Pescarolo Sport. It is designed to meet the LMP1 and LMP2 regulations for Le Mans Prototypes in the Le Mans Series as well as at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and ...

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

and

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

. Imperatori was back with KCMG for the 2014 WEC season taking part in all but two races behind the wheel of an Oreca 03R-

, winning LMP2 class at

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

. On 25 March 2015 it was announced that Imperatori had signed with the Swiss

Rebellion Racing Rebellion Racing is a Swiss racing team that competes in endurance racing. The team competed in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season and won the LMP1 teams' title in the 2011 Le Mans Series season. The team started as an association ...

LMP1 squad for the 2015 WEC season where he piloted the team's second car along with

Dominik Kraihamer Dominik Kraihamer (born 29 November 1989 in Oberndorf) is an Austrian racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for ByKolles Racing Team. Career Kraihamer's racing career began in 2004 in karting, where he found succe ...

and

Daniel Abt Daniel Johannes Abt (born 3 December 1992) is a German former racing driver. He has competed in such series as the German Formula Three Championship, the GP3 Series, the GP2 Series, and won the 2009 ADAC Formel Masters championship. He competed i ...

Racing record

SG Changi IS350 2011 Super GT Fuji 250km

Complete Super GT results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Official website

Career statistics from Driver Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imperatori, Alexandre 1987 births Living people Swiss racing drivers Asian Formula Renault Challenge drivers Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers A1 Grand Prix Rookie drivers Formula Lista Junior drivers Formula Nippon drivers Super GT drivers American Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24H Series drivers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in China Sportspeople from the canton of Fribourg Nismo drivers KCMG drivers Rebellion Racing drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers Asia Racing Team drivers TDS Racing drivers G-Drive Racing drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers