Lapierre Considers Retirement for Management Role at Alpine – Sportscar365

Nicolas Lapierre has announced that he is considering retiring from racing at the end of the year in favour of a management role within the Alpine FIA ​​World Endurance Championship team.

The experienced French driver has been part of the WEC since its inception in 2012 and made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2007.

His ties with Alpine and partner team Signatech date back to 2016, when he first joined the team in LMP2, winning the world title that year and his second of four Le Mans victories in the second prototype class.

Lapierre was part of Alpine’s first attempt in the Hypercar class in 2021 with an old ORECA LMP1 car and returned to the team for the first time this year with the A424 LMDh, which he helped develop.

However, the 40-year-old driver is now considering whether to end his career, which has seen him take 17 WEC victories, including eight in the premier class, a win at the 2018 Mobil 1 Sebring 12 Hours and an A1 GP title, in addition to his successes at Le Mans.

“For me it was very important to race this year because I was part of this project from the beginning and I wanted to be there in the first year,” Lapierre told Sportscar365.

“But now I’m 40 and I’m looking for the next chapter in my career. I also like working outside of the car, so I’m considering it.

“At the moment the championship is so much fun and it’s cool to race with so many manufacturers. I’ve been in the top class for years when it wasn’t really like that and I really enjoy it as a driver. It’s not an easy decision. I’m thinking about it.”

Lapierre is already involved in the team management of the European Le Mans Series team Cool Racing, where he became team principal at the beginning of 2021.

The Frenchman admitted that his experience with Cool prompted him to consider moving into team management full-time earlier than he otherwise would have done.

“The team is doing really well and I’m really enjoying it, as much as I’m enjoying the driving,” he said. “That could definitely encourage me to stop racing a bit earlier and focus on this.

“I think I can do a good job here and enjoy it too. We’ll see, it’s not decided yet.

“I’m talking about it with Bruno (Famin) and Philippe (Sinault), it’s an open discussion, but we have to make a decision before the end of the year. I would be happy in both cases.”

Should Lapierre decide to retire from racing, Alpine’s current reserve driver Jules Gounon would be an obvious candidate to take his place.

However, team boss Philippe Sinault said it was too early to say whether Gounon could be promoted to a race seat in 2025 when asked by Sportscar365.

“We are very happy with the work that Jules has done,” Sinault said. “It is not the right time to talk about this and to make this point, but we will certainly have more information to provide to you in the coming weeks.”

Schumacher dodges Alpine WEC future

Lapierre is not the only Alpine driver whose place in the squad appears in doubt, with Mick Schumacher having admitted he “really doesn’t know” what his future will be with the French marque.

Schumacher has been open about his ambitions to return to Formula 1 after losing his championship run with Haas at the end of 2022, with his participation in the Alpine WEC marking his first race programme since then.

He was seen as a candidate to race for Alpine in Formula 1 next season, but lost out to Jack Doohan. Williams also passed him over in favour of Franco Colapinto when the team needed a replacement for Logan Sargeant for the final part of the season.

With seats remaining for next season tight, Schumacher admitted his options in the Grand Prix paddock are “getting smaller and smaller”. However, he refused to stay with Alpine in the WEC if he doesn’t secure a Formula 1 drive when asked by Sportscar365.

“I really don’t know, otherwise I would say so,” Schumacher replied.

“I think there will always be an opportunity somewhere else in motorsport. There will always be an open door, somewhere hopefully for me, and I will go for that Plan B once I know what Plan A looks like.”

When asked if another form of sports car racing might interest him, the German said: “There is nothing at the moment that gives me the same feeling as Formula 1.”

Davey Euwema contributed to this report