Winner in the LM P2 class at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Signatech Alpine team is upping the ante this season with two cars, beginning with the second round of the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) at Spa-Francorchamps. The #35 A470 and its driver line-up Nelson Panciatici, Pierre Ragues (returning) and newcomer André Negrão will not participate in the 6 Hours of Silverstone.

At the kickoff of the championship, only Nicolas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes - winners at Le Mans and of the FIA Endurance LM P2 Teams and Drivers Trophy in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) in 2016 - and Matt Rao will represent the French marque, in the #36 A470 which has borrowed certain elements from its predecessor the A460.

With the new LM P2 technical regulations in place, only four constructors were chosen to furnish the chassis for the prototypes. That is why the A470 is based on a chassis from Oreca, a partner with whom Alpine had already worked on the A460. The French constructor put its confidence namely in Nicolas Lapierre to develop its new jewel, so he will be quite familiar with his new car.

Yet, the two-time winner in the LM P2 class at the 24 Hours in 2015 and 2016 will give his seat to a two-time overall winner in 2010 and 2016 for the WEC Spa-Francorchamps round and Le Mans since Nicolas Lapierre has been asked by Toyota to take the wheel of the third Toyota TS050 HYBRID entered by the Japanese manufacturer for those two rounds. Lapierre will be replaced by Romain Dumas, official Porsche driver and defending World Endurance Champion.

Bernard Ollivier, Deputy General Manager of Alpine: "We are very proud to commemorate the grand opening of the Alpine showroom in Boulogne-Billancourt with the announcement of our 2017 sporting program. Presented between the champion Alpine A460 and the Alpine A110 first road edition, the A470 cannot hide its ambitions! There is a legacy to maintain and the launch of a new model to go along with promising results. Once again, we have tried to bring together our greatest assets to pay tribute to our marque. The headline of the day is obviously the arrival of Romain Dumas in the Alpine family. It is with enormous pride that we welcome a driver with such a stellar record to join us. It would take nothing less to replace Nicolas Lapierre, to whom we wish the best for his two non-Alpine races. The Alpine A470 is stunning and we trust Philippe Sinault's men to achieve new successes in 2017. Our goal is clear, we are first and foremost defending the titles we won last year."

The two Alpine A470s will take part in the Prologue, the official testing sessions of the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) on April 1st and 2nd at the Monza circuit in Italy.

Quotation from team press release.

Photo (Copyright - Vincent Perraud/Alpine): The Alpine A470 next to the series first edition A110.