Nicolas Lapierre (born 2 April 1984) is a French professional racing driver. He raced with Toyota and with Alpine Racing in the past seasons of the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Interco ...

. He is a two-time winner of the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second ro ...

, with overall victories in 2011 and 2018, and scored four LMP2 class victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019. He now races with Alpine in the LMH class in the

driving the number 36 Alpine A480.

Career history

Early career

Born in

Thonon-les-Bains Thonon-les-Bains (; frp, Tonon), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains ...

, Lapierre started his career in 1993 in

karting 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 scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

, finishing 3rd in the French championship in 1996, 6th in the European Championships in 1997 and reaching the finals of the European Junior Championship in 1998 before moving to French Formula Renault in 1999. He stayed there for 2000 and 2001, 2001 also seeing two races in

Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault ...

. He again raced in French Formula Renault in 2002, also driving a full season of 2000 Eurocup and some races of French

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One dr ...

(most of them being in the main class, although he drove two races in the B-Class also). 2003 saw Lapierre move to Formula Three Euroseries with the Signature team and earn a win 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 ...

. He stayed in the Euroseries for 2004, also driving two races of British Formula 3. With his reputation increasing and his talent proven, Lapierre was rewarded for his Euroseries performances with a drive in GP2 Series for current champions Arden Motorsport. He partnered with

Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and ...

Signatech Alpine A470 Lapierre Silverstone 2018

GP2 & A1GP

During 2005 Lapierre drove for A1 Team France in the A1 Grand Prix series helping the team win the championship and therefore the World Cup of Motorsport. Lapierre won both the sprint and main race events in Germany and Australia, the main race in Dubai and the sprint in Indonesia. During 2006 he continued with the Arden team in GP2, however his season was interrupted by a spectacular first corner crash in Monaco in which he was a victim of someone else's accident. Lapierre received two compressed vertebrae in the crash and missed the British round of the series. Despite this, his points score was higher than the previous season's tally. Lapierre was dropped at the end of 2006 and has since signed to participate in a 3rd season of GP2 for the

DAMS A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

team, which finished 10th overall in the constructors' standings and runs the French A1 GP team, which won the first season of A1 Grand Prix.

Touring Cars

Lapierre was announced as a LADA driver for the remainder of the

2015 World Touring Car Championship The 2015 World Touring Car Championship was a motor racing competition organised by the FIA for Super 2000 cars. It was the twelfth FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the eleventh since the series was revived in 2005. The championship co ...

in August 2015, replacing Jaap van Lagen at the Russian team.

Racing record

Career summary

† Guest Driver ineligible for points ‡ Teams Standings

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

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

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

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

Complete GP2 Series results

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

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

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

Complete European Le Mans Series results

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship. ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

Nicolas Lapierre official website

''driverdb.com''
A1GP Driver Statistics
''results.a1gp.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Lapierre, Nicolas 1984 births Living people GP2 Series drivers A1 Team France drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers French Formula Three Championship drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers French racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 12 Hours of Sebring drivers Tech 1 Racing drivers Graff Racing drivers Signature Team drivers Arden International drivers DAMS drivers Oreca drivers Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers KCMG drivers People from Thonon-les-Bains Sportspeople from Haute-Savoie A1 Grand Prix drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers DragonSpeed drivers Extreme Speed Motorsports drivers TDS Racing drivers ART Grand Prix drivers ISR Racing drivers Starworks Motorsport drivers