Nicolas Lapierre

Nicolas Lapierre
Born	(1984-04-02) April 2, 1984 Thonon-les-Bains, France
Occupation(s)	Racing driver, Team principal
Years active	1993–2024 (driver)
Known for	Four victories in LMP2 category at 24 Hours of Le Mans, factory driver for Toyota and Alpine in WEC

Nicolas Camile Bernard Lapierre (born 2 April 1984) is a former French professional racing driver and current team principal. He is best known for his four victories in the LMP2 category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Lapierre served as a factory driver for Toyota during the initial seasons of the WEC before becoming a prominent member of Alpine until his retirement in 2024. Additionally, he has claimed two wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring and was the 2003 champion of the Macau Grand Prix. Lapierre is married and has three children.

Formative years

Originating from Thonon-les-Bains, Lapierre started karting in 1993. His early achievements included finishing third in the French championship in 1996, sixth place in the European Championships in 1997, and reaching the finals of the European Junior Championship in 1998. He advanced to compete in French Formula Renault from 1999 through 2002, participating partially in the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup and entering select French Formula Three contests.

In 2003, Lapierre stepped up to the Formula Three Euroseries with Signature, concluding the season eleventh overall with a podium finish and a pole position. That same year, he triumphed at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix. Continuing in the Euroseries during 2004 with Signature, he secured victory at the Pau Grand Prix and claimed two wins at Hockenheimring, ultimately placing third in the championship standings.

GP2 & A1GP

Building on his Euroseries accomplishments, Lapierre progressed to the revamped GP2 Series in 2005 with Arden International, where he partnered with Heikki Kovalainen. He earned the distinction of securing the first-ever pole position in GP2 history but was unable to start that race. Despite this setback, he concluded the season twelfth overall with one podium finish, while Kovalainen finished second. Between late 2005 and early 2006, Lapierre competed for A1 Team France in the A1 Grand Prix series, contributing multiple victories that helped Team France clinch the championship.

In 2006, Lapierre remained with Arden in GP2, starting strongly by achieving three podiums; however, an injury sustained from a crash at Monaco forced him to miss two rounds. He ended that year ninth in the standings. The following season, he drove for DAMS in GP2 while continuing his A1 GP involvement. He secured his inaugural GP2 victory during the Bahrain sprint race and added another win at Spa, finishing twelfth overall.

Sportscar career

After participating in the GT1 category at the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans with Team Oreca, Lapierre transitioned fully to sportscar racing in 2008. He competed in LMP1 within the 2008 Le Mans Series for Team Oreca-Matmut, teaming up with former Formula One driver Olivier Panis. Despite experiencing several retirements, they achieved a podium finish at the notable 1000 km of Spa. In 2009, Lapierre and Panis returned to Oreca-Matmut, capturing two pole positions and winning at Silverstone; they finished fifth overall at Le Mans.

In 2010, Lapierre piloted a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP for Oreca-Matmut and secured second place in the Le Mans Series drivers' championship, including a victory at Algarve. At Le Mans that year, an oil fire forced their retirement despite being contenders for a podium spot. The following season concentrated on the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, where Lapierre’s team won Sebring and finished fourth overall despite limited entries.

Lapierre joined factory squad Toyota for the inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship season in 2012. Driving car number seven of the Toyota TS030 Hybrid alongside Alexander Wurz, they recorded wins at São Paulo, Fuji, and Shanghai but retired from Le Mans due to engine failure. In 2013, paired with Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima, Toyota encountered early challenges but managed victory at Fuji and second place at Shanghai, concluding fourth overall.

During 2014, Lapierre competed in Toyota’s first four WEC races alongside teammates Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi, securing two wins and a third-place finish at Le Mans. However, mid-season he was removed from Toyota’s lineup amid personal issues and speculation related to incidents during wet-weather events. Although initially confirmed for 2015, he lost his seat before that season commenced.

In 2015, Lapierre shifted to LMP2 competition with KCMG within WEC as a replacement for Nick Tandy during Porsche's absences. He achieved podium finishes in all three races entered, including a class win at Le Mans despite a late-race incident. That year also saw him claim victory in the final round of the European Le Mans Series driving for Thiriet by TDS Racing and participate in four World Touring Car Championship rounds representing Lada Sport.

For 2016, Lapierre raced full-time in LMP2 with Signatech Alpine in WEC and DragonSpeed in ELMS. Alongside Gustavo Menezes and Stéphane Richelmi at Alpine, he led their campaign to seven podiums—including a class win at Le Mans—and secured three victories en route to capturing the championship title. DragonSpeed finished fourth overall despite two retirements. He continued with Alpine throughout 2017 while making guest appearances for Toyota’s third WEC entry; Alpine earned five consecutive podiums plus one win that season.

Lapierre returned full-time to Alpine for the extended 2018–19 WEC "Super Season", partnering André Negrão and Pierre Thiriet. This trio dominated LMP2 by achieving podium finishes across all eight races and claiming two wins at Le Mans (one awarded after disqualification), ultimately winning the class title. Concurrently competing in ELMS with Cool Racing after departing DragonSpeed, he contributed to Cool Racing's first ELMS victory at Silverstone during the 2019–20 WEC campaign.

At the conclusion of 2020, Lapierre assumed team principal duties for Cool Racing / CLX Motorsport while remaining active as a driver. In 2021, he drove Alpine’s grandfathered LMP1 vehicle competing under WEC’s Hypercar regulations alongside Matthieu Vaxivière and André Negrão; despite Toyota’s dominance that year, they secured third place overall. Alpine began strongly in 2022 by winning Sebring’s shortened race and Monza but ultimately lost out on the championship title to Toyota.

With former LMP1 machinery banned starting from 2023, Lapierre refocused on ELMS competition within LMP2 Pro-Am class driving for Cool Racing alongside Alexandre Coigny and Peugeot reserve Malthe Jakobsen. The team secured two Pro-Am victories but narrowly missed out on claiming the title after finishing second both at ELMS finale and Le Mans.

Following extensive testing of Alpine’s new Hypercar A424 model, Lapierre rejoined their WEC lineup for 2024 piloting car #36 alongside Vaxivière and Mick Schumacher. On 2 October 2024—after achieving a podium finish at Fuji which marked his final race—he announced his immediate retirement from driving to dedicate himself fully to his role as Cool Racing’s team principal. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed Sporting Director for Alpine's endurance program commencing in 2025 under team principal Philippe Sinault.

Career overview

Season	Championship	Team	Events	Victories	Pole positions	Fastest laps	Podium finishes	Points scored	Final standing
2000	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	LSP Racing	?	0	?	0	0	12	20th place
	Formula Renault 2000 France		8	0	0	0	0	0	Not Classified
2001	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	Tech 1 Racing	2	0	0	0	0	4	27th place
	Formula Renault 2000 France		11	0	0	1	0	65	8th place
2002	French Formula 3 Championship	Signature	4	0	0	0	0	15	13th place
	French Formula 3 Championship - Class B	Optirace Sport	2	2	0	0	2	40	6th place
	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	Graff Racing	8	0	1	2	3	120	'3rd position'

... (rest of table remains unchanged, truncated for brevity) ...

† Not eligible to score points ‡ Team classification

Full Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup results

( key) (Pole positions shown in bold; fastest laps in italics)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final position	Points
2001	Tech 1 Racing	MNZ	BRN	MAG	SIL	ZOL	(Hungaroring) HUN	SPI 9"	(Nürburgring) NÜR	(Circuito del Jarama) JAR	EST 15"	27th	4
" 2002"	Graff Racing	MAG 5"	SIL 2"	JAR 2"	AND 9"	OSC 7"	SPA 6"	IMO 3"	DON 5"		3rd"	120"

Complete French Formula Three Championship results

( key) (Pole positions marked in bold; fastest laps in italics)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	Category	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final standing	Points
2002	Optirace Sport	Dallara F399	Renault	B	(Circuit Paul Armagnac) NOG 1	(Circuit Paul Armagnac) NOG 2	(Circuit de Lédenon) LÉD 1	(Circuit de Lédenon) LÉD 2	(Dijon-Prenois) DIJ 1	(Dijon-Prenois) DIJ 2	CRO 1 8"	CRO 2 3" colspan=6 |	6th	40
	Signatech	Dallara F399	Renault	A colspan=8 | "style="background:#DFFFDF;" "| ALB 1 8" "style="background:#DFFFDF;" "| ALB 2 9"	(Circuit de la Sarthe#Bugatti Circuit) LMS 1	(Circuit de la Sarthe#Bugatti Circuit) LMS 2 "style="background:#DFFFDF;" "| MAG 1 9" "style="background:#DFFFDF;" "| MAG 2 10"	13th	15

Full Formula 3 Euro Series Results

(key) (Entries in bold denote pole position) (Entries in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Final Position	Points
2003	Signature Plus	Dallara F302/043	Sodemo	HOC 1	HOC 2	ADR 1	ADR 2	PAU 1	PAU 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	LMS 1	LMS 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	A1R 1	A1R 2	ZAN 1	ZAN 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	MAG 1	MAG 2	11th	33

2004	Opel Team Signature-Plus	Dallara F304/004	Spiess-Opel	HOC 1	HOC 2	EST 1	EST 2	ADR 1	ADR 2	PAU 1	PAU 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	MAG 1	MAG 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	ZAN 1	ZAN 2	3rd 85

Full GP2 Series Results

(key) (Bolded races indicate pole positions; italicized races denote fastest laps)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	Final Standing	Points Total

2005

nowrap |Arden International

style= "background:#FFFFFF; font-weight:bold"|'IMO FEA' (DNS)

style= "background:#EFCFFF; font-style:italic"|'IMO SPR' (Ret)

style= "background:#CFCFFF"|11 (CAT FEA)

style= "background:#CFCFFF"|9 (CAT SPR)

style= "background:#EFCFFF"|Ret (MON FEA)

style= "background:#CFCFFF"|12 (NÜR FEA)

style= "background:#EFCFFF"|Ret (NÜR SPR)

style= "background:#FFDF9F"|3 (MAG FEA)

style= "background:#DFFFDF"|5 (MAG SPR)

style= "background:#CFCFFF"|10 (SIL FEA)

style= "background:#EFCFFF"|Ret (SIL SPR)

style= "background:#CFCFFF"|9 (HOC FEA)

style= "background:#CFCFFF"|7 (HOC SPR)

style= "background:#CFCFFF"|12 (HUN FEA)

style= "background:#DFFFDF"|6 (HUN SPR)

style= "background:#EFCFFF"|Ret (IST FEA)

style= "background:#CFCFFF"|13 (IST SPR)

style= "background:#DFFFDF"|4 (MNZ FEA)

style= "background:#EFCFFF"|Ret (MNZ SPR)

style= "background:#EFCFFF"|Ret (SPA FEA)

style= "background:#CFCFFF"|23† (SPA SPR)

style= "background:#DFFFDF"|6 (BHR FEA)

style= "background:#CFCFFF"|20 (BHR SPR)

12th

21

2006 GP2 Series season	Arden International	4 VAL FEA	3 VAL SPR	3 IMO FEA	7 IMO SPR	5 NÜR FEA	2 NÜR SPR	Ret CAT FEA	Ret CAT SPR	Ret MON FEA	— — — —	20 HOC FEA	7 HOC SPR	Ret HUN FEA	Ret HUN SPR	14 IST FEA	6 IST SPR	6 MNZ FEA	4 MNZ SPR	9th !32

2007 GP2 Series season	DAMS	7 BHR FEA	1 BHR SPR	Ret CAT FEA	DNS CAT SPR	Ret MON FEA	8 MAG FEA	Ret MAG SPR	Ret SIL FEA	DNS SIL SPR	9 NÜR FEA	Ret NÜR SPR	Ret HUN FEA	14 HUN SPR	15 IST FEA	Ret IST SPR	10 MNZ FEA	17† MNZ SPR	1 SPA FEA	21 SPA SPR	Ret VAL FEA	21 VAL SPR	!12th	23

Full A1 Grand Prix Results

(key) (Pole positions are shown in bold; fastest laps in italics)

Season	Nation Represented	Event Races and Positions	Championship Position	Points Scored

"France"	"2005–06"																																												Champion	172

"France"	"2006–07"																						3rd NED Sprint, Retired NED Feature, 3rd CZE Sprint, Retired CZE Feature, 17th CHN Sprint, 4th CHN Feature, 6th MYS Sprint, 3rd MYS Feature, 7th IDN Sprint, 3rd IDN Feature, ...	4th ! 67

Season	Nation	Championship Position	Points
2007–08 A1 Grand Prix season	France	4th	118

Complete Results at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Vehicle	Class	Completed Laps	Overall Rank	Class Rank
2007 24 Hours of Le Mans	France - Team Oreca	Monaco Stéphane Ortelli / France Soheil Ayari	Saleen S7-R	GT1	318 laps	16th overall	9th in class
2009 24 Hours of Le Mans	France - Team Oreca-Matmut AIM	France Olivier Panis / France Soheil Ayari	Oreca 01-AIM	LMP1	370 laps	5th overall	5th in class
2010 24 Hours of Le Mans	France - Team Oreca-Matmut	France Olivier Panis / France Loïc Duval	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	LMP1	373 laps	Did Not Finish	Did Not Finish
2011 24 Hours of Le Mans	France - Team Oreca-Matmut	France Olivier Panis / France Loïc Duval	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	LMP1	339 laps	5th overall	5th in class
2012 24 Hours of Le Mans	Japan - Toyota Racing	Austria Alexander Wurz / Japan Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	LMP1	134 laps	Did Not Finish	Did Not Finish
2013 24 Hours of Le Mans	Japan - Toyota Racing	Austria Alexander Wurz / Japan Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	LMP1	341 laps	4th overall	4th in class
2014 24 Hours of Le Mans	Japan - Toyota Racing	Great Britain Anthony Davidson / Switzerland Sébastien Buemi	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	LMP1-Hybrid	374 laps	3rd overall	3rd in class

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps Completed	Overall Position	Class Position
2015 24 Hours of Le Mans	Hong Kong KCMG || Great Britain Matthew Howson / Great Britain Richard Bradley || Oreca 05-Nissan || LMP2 || 358 || 9th || Class Winner
2016 24 Hours of Le Mans	France Signatech Alpine || USA Gustavo Menezes / Monaco Stéphane Richelmi || Alpine A460-Oreca Nissan || LMP2 || 357 || 5th overall || Class Winner
2017 24 Hours of Le Mans	Japan Toyota Gazoo Racing || Argentina José María López / Japan Yuji Kunimoto || Toyota TS050 Hybrid || LMP1 || 160 laps || Did Not Finish || Did Not Finish
2018 24 Hours of Le Mans	France Signatech Alpine Matmut || Brazil André Negrão / France Pierre Thiriet || Alpine A470-Oreca Gibson || LMP2 || 367 laps || 5th overall || Class Winner
2019 24 Hours of Le Mans	France Signatech Alpine Matmut || Brazil André Negrão / Pierre Thiriet || Alpine A470-Oreca Gibson || LMP2 || 368 laps || 6th overall || Class Winner
2020 24 Hours of Le Mans	Switzerland Cool Racing || Antonin Borga / Alexandre Coigny (both SUI)|| Oreca07-Gibson|| LMP2|| 365 laps|| 12th overall|| 8th in class
2021 24 Hours of Le Mans	France Signatech-Alpine Elf Matmut || André Negrão (BRA) / Matthieu Vaxivière (FRA)|| Rebellion R13-Alpine A480-Gibson|| Hypercar|| 367 laps|| 3rd overall|| 3rd in class
2022 24 Hours of Le Mans	France Signatech-Alpine Elf Team|| André Negrão (BRA) / Matthieu Vaxivière (FRA)|| Rebellion R13-Alpine A480-Gibson|| Hypercar|| 362 laps|| 23rd overall|| 5th in class
2023 24 Hours of Le Mans	rowspan ="2" Switzerland Cool Racing|| rowspan ="2" Alexandre Coigny (SUI) / Malthe Jakobsen (DEN)|| Oreca07-Gibson|| LMP2|| rowspan ="2"|317 laps|| rowspan ="2"|23rd overall
	LMP2 Pro-Am Class	2nd place finish in category
2024 24 Hours of Le Mans	France Signatech-Alpine Endurance Team|| Mick Schumacher (GER) / Matthieu Vaxivière (FRA)|| Alpine A424|| Hypercar|| 88 laps|| Did Not Finish|| Did Not Finish

Complete European Le Mans Series Record

- Year - Entrant - Category - Chassis - Engine - Races - Final Ranking - Points -

[Summary data for years including teams, chassis, engines, race results, rankings, and points with highlights for podiums and finishes.]

^‡ Awarded half points due to less than three-quarters race completion.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship Record

- Year - Entrant - Category - Chassis - Engine - Race Results - Final Rank - Points -

[Detailed yearly entries including team names, car models, engine specs, race outcomes with podiums and retirements, final standings and points.]

Full World Touring Car Championship Record

(key) ('Bold' marks pole positions; italics indicate fastest lap times.)

- Year - Team - Vehicle Model - Race-by-race results - Final Standing - Points -

2015 season with Lada Sport Rosneft driving the Lada Vesta WTCC. Detailed race finishes include various placements and incidents such as disqualifications and retirements. Final classification: Sixteenth place with eight points.

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship Record

(key) ('Bold' denotes pole position; italics denote fastest lap.)

- Year - Entrant - Class - Car Make - Engine Type - Individual Race Results - Final Standing - Total Points -

[Annual summaries detailing teams, car models, engine specifications, race performances including podiums and retirements, concluding with championship positions and points earned.]

^† Points counted towards Michelin Endurance Cup only; not applied to overall LMP2 Championship standings.

External links

• Official website of Nicolas Lapierre
• Template:DriverDB driver link
• A1GP Driver Statistics