24h Le Mans
Alpine chose the 24 Hours of Le Mans and endurance racing for its return to racing, a decision already rewarded with a title in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) this year.
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Photo : Jean-Philippe BOYER / ACO
It might have been a Oreca 03-Nissan (LM P2 class) chassis modified and renammed, but the Alpine A450 garnered many looks during the last 24 Hours of Le Mans, thanks in part to its French "Bleu" colour scheme, which conjured many good memories of the 1960s and 1970s.
In a car they knew perfectly well after racing it in 2011 and 2012 under the Signatech Nissan banner, Philippe Sinault and his team realised a perfect finishing record, with six finishes in as many starts. Despite various problems, the A450 took the chequered flag at Le Mans, making Alpine fans very happy indeed. Also racing in the ELMS, the Signatech-Nissan squad finished in the top five in the first five rounds of the 2013 season ( four at Silverstone, second at Imola and Red Bull) with a victory in the penultimate race of the year at the Hungaroring for French drivers Pierre Ragues-Nelson Panciatici (joined at Le Mans by Tristan Gommendy). For the final race at the Castellet, a fourth place finish was enough to claim the Teams and Drivers titles.
Having left today for Peugeot, Carlos Tavares can be proud for having revived the Alpine name while still the general director of operations at Renault. No doubt, he will always keep an eye on a story that has only just (re)started.
Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translated by Rainier Ehrhardt / ACO
Photo : LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2013, RACE. Alpine's return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans ended with the chequered flag and an eighth place finish in the LM P2 class.
