Signatech, formerly known as Signature, is a French

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

team and racing car constructor that competes in 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 Intercont ...

. The team won the FIA European Formula Three Cup in 1999 with

Benoît Tréluyer Benoît Tréluyer (; born 7 December 1976) is a French professional racing driver. Early career Beginning his motorsport career in motocross and karting, Alençon-born Tréluyer switched to single-seaters in Formula Renault Campus for 1995. He w ...

. It won the

French Formula Three Championship The French Formula Three Championship was a motor racing series for Formula Three cars held in France between 1964 and 2002. The series was merged with the German Formula Three Championship in 2003 to form the Formula 3 Euro Series The Formula ...

in 2000 with

Jonathan Cochet Jonathan Cochet (born 4 January 1977 in Alençon, France) is a French racing driver. He won the Championnat de France Formule Renault in 1997. He was a test driver for Prost Grand Prix in 2001, and he was also a test driver with the Renault ...

as driver, who also won the European Cup and

Masters of Formula 3 The Masters of Formula 3 was a Formula Three race held annually, usually at the Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands. Due to noise restrictions in the Zandvoort area, the 2007 and 2008 races were held in the Belgian circuit of Zolder. However ...

that year, and won the

Korea Super Prix The International Formula 3 Korea Super Prix was a Formula Three race held annually on the streets of Changwon, Republic of Korea between 1999 and 2003. The event enjoyed brief success as a sister 'flyaway' event to complement the season-ending M ...

for the team in 2001. In 2002, Renaud Derlot won the European F3 Cup for the team. In 2003, Signature won the team championship in the first

Formula Renault V6 Eurocup Formula Renault V6 Eurocup is a former type of formula racing, active from 2003 to 2004, started by Renault as a support series in Eurosport's Super Racing Weekends ( ETCC and FIA GT Championship). It was a Formula Renault 3.5 that include also ...

, with

Tristan Gommendy Tristan Gommendy (born 4 January 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with Duqueine Engineering. Racing career Early career Born in Le Chesnay, Yvelines, Gommendy began his profess ...

and

Kosuke Matsuura is a Japanese race car driver currently competing in the Super GT series. He previously competed in the Formula Nippon and IRL IndyCar Series. Early career After winning the Japanese Formula Dream Championship in 2001, Kosuke attracted the att ...

as drivers. They moved from the defunct French F3 series to its replacement, the

Formula 3 Euro Series The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

, and

Nicolas Lapierre 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. He is a two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring, with overa ...

and

Fabio Carbone Fabio is a given name descended from Latin ''Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian. The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...

completed a 1–2 finish for the team at the prestigious

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 ...

Edoardo Mortara Edoardo "Edo" Mortara (born 12 January 1987) is a Swiss-Italian- French professional racing driver for Maserati MSG Racing. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, he holds triple nationality from all three countries. He is a former Formula Three Eurose ...

and

Jean-Karl Vernay Jean-Karl "J. K." Vernay (born 31 October 1987) is a French professional racing driver. He was 2010 Indy Lights and 2017 TCR International Series champion. He has won races at the World Touring Car Cup, where he finished fifth in 2018 and won the ...

repeated this feat in 2009. The team began competing in the 2009

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

in the

LMP1 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were crea ...

category. The 2010 season was an outstanding one for Signature in the F3 Euroseries with Edoardo Mortara and

Marco Wittmann Marco Wittmann (born 24 November 1989) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He currently resides in Markt Erlbach. Wittmann has competed in such series as Formula Three Euroseries The Formula 3 Euro Series wa ...

finishing first and second in the series, winning eight races between them, and also taking the team championship. Signatech provided the chassis for the Formula Future Fiat, a junior formula racing series in Brazil held in 2010 and 2011. Le Mans 2011 Signatech Nissan

In 2011, in cooperation with the

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 ...

GT Academy, Signatech finished second in LMP2 at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

. In 2012, Signature decided to pull out of the Formula 3 Euro Series, to concentrate on its involvement in sport car races. The team finished tenth overall at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans using a

-powered

Oreca 03 The Oreca 03 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Oreca in 2011. It is built within the revised 2011 ACO regulations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car made its début at the 12 Hours of Sebring run by Signatech Nissan and set to race at the 2011 24 ...

. In 2013,

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

partnered with Signatech to run an LMP2 car in the European Le Mans Series with French drivers

Pierre Ragues Pierre Ragues (born 10 January 1984 in Caen) is a French racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Career Karting Debuting in karting in 1994, Ragues was second in the Monaco Kart Cup in Formula A in 2001, and third ...

and

Nelson Panciatici Nelson Panciatici (born 26 September 1988) is a French professional racing driver. Career Karting Born in Reims, Panciatici started his karting career in 1998 and continued until 2004.Formula 4 Sudamericana. In 2015, Signatech, continuing its partnership with Alpine, returned to the

, winning the championship LMP2 category in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and 2018-19. Alpine, GIMS 2018, Le Grand-Saconnex (1X7A1670)

In 2020, Signatech returned to the European Le Mans Series under the name of Richard Mille Racing Team. The team previously planned to run an all-female lineup of

Tatiana Calderón Tatiana Calderón Noguera (born 10 March 1993) is a Colombian racing driver who currently drives the No. 11 Dallara- Chevrolet car part-time for A. J. Foyt Enterprises in the 2022 IndyCar Series. Calderón previously drove for the Drago Cors ...

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in ''Richard Hammond's Crash Course''. Racing career Early racing and Atlantics ...

and

Sophia Flörsch Sophia Flörsch (born 1 December 2000) is a German racing driver, currently competing in the European Le Mans Series with Algarve Pro Racing. She has previously raced in the DTM, the FIA World Endurance Championship and FIA Formula 3, and i ...

, however, due to Legge's injury, she was then replaced by

André Negrão André Negrão (born 17 June 1992, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian driver in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), world champion in the WEC's superseason 2018/2019 and twice winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2018 and 2019) in t ...

for the first two rounds.

Beitske Visser Beitske Visser (born 10 March 1995) is a Dutch racing driver. She has raced in kart, single-seater, GT and prototype series. Career Karting Born in Dronten, Visser began karting in 2007 and raced in various European and International champi ...

would then take over Legge's place for the rest of the season. The team would then join the LMP2 class of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, with an all-female lineup of Tatiana Calderón, Beitske Visser and Sophia Flörsch. In 2021, the team partnered again with Alpine, this time fielding a "grandfathered"

Rebellion R13 The Rebellion R13 is a sports prototype racing car built by French constructor Oreca on behalf of Swiss-based team Rebellion Racing. It is a variation of the Oreca 07, created to compete in the LMP1 class. It would later be renamed by Alpine to A ...

in the Le Mans Hypercar class for the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship season, which finished third overall at the

2021 24 Hours of Le Mans The 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''89e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars held between 21 and 22 August 2021, at the ...

Timeline

References

External links

* } {{DEFAULTSORT:Signature Team French auto racing teams French racecar constructors Auto racing teams established in 1990 1990 establishments in France Formula 3 Euro Series teams FIA World Endurance Championship teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams European Le Mans Series teams FIA Formula 3 European Championship teams French Formula 3 teams British Formula Three teams Renault in motorsport