24h Le Mans
The Signatech-Alpine team has just revealed its two Alpine A460 prototypes that will be entered in LM P2 this season in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and therefore at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 18th and 19th). Starting tomorrow, the two cars will participate in the Prologue at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet.
The name of this new prototype was chosen to continue the lineage begun in the 1970s with the A440 and echoes Alpine's 60 years, celebrated last year...hence the name A460.
One of the two cars will be entered by Signatech-Alpine, the No. 36. It will be driven by Nicolas Lapierre (winner at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LM P2 class), Gustavo Menezes and Stéphane Richelmi. The second will boast the coulours of Baxi DC Racing Alpine. Nelson Panciatici (two-time European Le Mans Series champion), David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung will share the wheel.
Bernard Ollivier, Deputy Managing Director, Alpine: "After claiming back-to-back titles in the European Le Mans Series in 2013 and 2014, Signatech-Alpine showcased its professionalism and potential at world level in 2015 and has set its sights higher still in 2016. This year, the team is contesting the FIA World Endurance Championship with two new A460 prototypes – one of which will be run in association with the Chinese outfit DC Racing – and a line-up of six talented drivers. Under the leadership of Philippe Sinault, Signatech-Alpine will continue to fuel the passion of Alpine fans worldwide."
Philippe Sinault, Team Principal Signatech-Alpine: "Alpine’s commitment to endurance racing is being stepped up year after year. Last season, our first at FIA WEC level, was marked by a class win at the 6 Hours of Shanghai. This year, as we seek to add to our record, there is much about the team that is new, from our driver line-up and cars to the way we are organised. We are proud to have forged an association with DC Racing which means we are able to run two A460s. This is an obvious advantage and opens up fresh opportunities in terms of race strategy. It’s now down to us to harness all this potential to achieve even more success for Alpine!"
The two structures will now take the track at the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet for the Prologue of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), and then will head to the U.K. for the 6 Hours of Silverstone (April 17th).
David Bristol / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
Quotations from team press release.
