Nicolas Lapierre (born 2 April 1984) is a French professional racing driver. Notable for winning the LMP2 class four times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Lapierre was a factory driver at Toyota during the early days of the WEC before becoming a staple of the Alpine team, with whom he still races in 2024. He is also a two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 2003 champion at the Macau Grand Prix.
Born in Thonon-les-Bains, Lapierre started his career in 1993 in karting, finishing 3rd in the French championship in 1996, 6th in the European Championships in 1997 and reaching the finals of the European Junior Championship in 1998 before moving to French Formula Renault in 1999. He stayed there for 2000 and 2001, 2001 also seeing two races in Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup. He again raced in French Formula Renault in 2002, also driving a full season of 2000 Eurocup and some races of French Formula Three (most of them being in the main class, although he drove two races in the B-Class also).
2003 saw Lapierre move to Formula Three Euroseries with the Signature team. Though his campaign only yielded a sole podium finish and pole position respectively, leading him to finish 11th overall, the Frenchman would shine on the streets of Macau, winning the prestigious Macau Grand Prix.[1] He stayed in the Euroseries for 2004, once again driving for Signature.[2] With a victory at Pau and two wins at the Hockenheimring, Lapierre ended up third in the standings.
Following his Euro Series success, Lapierre progressed into the newly restructured GP2 Series in 2005, partnering Heikki Kovalainen at Arden International. Lapierre scored the first pole position of the championship's history but was unable to start the race.[3] This led onto a disappointing season for Lapierre, who ended up 12th in the standings after scoring just one podium, whilst teammate Kovalainen came second. Near the end of the year and going into 2006, Lapierre drove for A1 Team France in numerous races of the A1 Grand Prix series. By winning both the sprint and main race events in Germany and Australia, the main race in Dubai and the sprint in Indonesia, he was able to help Team France to win the championship title.
Lapierre continued driving for Arden in 2006, starting the season off well by taking three podium finishes in the opening three rounds. However, a crash caused by a competitor at Monaco resulted in two compressed vertebrae for Lapierre, who was forced to miss two rounds. He returned for the final four events, though his three points results would only bring him to ninth overall by the end of the year. Going into 2007, Lapierre once again drove for the French team in A1 GP whilst signing for DAMS in GP2.[4] In a year plagued with a heap of retirements, the Frenchman was able to score his first win in the series during the Bahrain sprint race, meanwhile a victory from pole during the Spa feature race proved to be a bookending one for Lapierre's GP2 career, which he ended sitting 12th in the overall standings.
Having driven in the GT1 class of the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans for Team Oreca, Lapierre made a full-time switch to sportscars in 2008, competing in the LMP1 category of the Le Mans Series with Team Oreca-Matmut alongside former F1 driver Olivier Panis. The duo retired from three races, though they were able to claim a podium at the series's crown jewel event: the 1000 km of Spa.[5] The following year saw Lapierre return to Oreca-Matmut, where he and Panis scored two pole positions and won the season-ending race at Silverstone.[6] [7] Lapierre also drove at Le Mans that year, finishing fifth alongside Panis and Soheil Ayari.[8]
For the 2010 season, Lapierre once again drove for Oreca-Matmut, this time piloting a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. He finished second in the drivers' championship of the Le Mans Series, having won from pole at the Algarve.[9] At Le Mans, Lapierre, Panis, and Loïc Duval were fighting for a spot on the podium until Sunday morning, when a major oil fire caused the team's retirement.[10] Lapierre entered his final year with Oreca-Matmut in 2011, this time focusing on the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Alongside his 2010 Le Mans teammates, Lapierre beat the Peugeot works entry by winning the opening race at Sebring, a result which helped the team, which only entered four of the season's eight events, to finish fourth in the standings.[11] [12]
Lapierre became a factory driver for Toyota in 2012 as part of their programme in the newly-formed FIA World Endurance Championship, where he and Alexander Wurz would be driving the Toyota TS030 Hybrid #7 entry from the 24 Hours of Le Mans onwards.[13] Despite retiring at Le Mans, where Lapierre had briefly taken the lead going into the late hours of Saturday evening, due to an engine failure, the team managed to finish third in the standings, as Lapierre and Wurz took wins at São Paulo, Fuji, and Shanghai.[14] [15] [16] [17] In 2013, the Frenchman remained in the WEC together with Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima.[18] The season proved to be challenging during its first half, with the car retiring at Spa and not being entered at two races. However, victory in Japan (where the race was abandoned after 16 laps behind the safety car due to wet conditions) and a second place from pole in China put the team back to fourth in the standings.[19] 2014 would be Lapierre's final season with Toyota, as he contested the first four races of the WEC season alongside Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi.[20] Strong showings at Silverstone and Spa yielded two victories for the #8, meanwhile Lapierre scored his best Le Mans result to date with a third place overall.[21] Following another podium at Circuit of the Americas, Toyota decided to drop Lapierre from the lineup, with "personal reasons" — one of Lapierre's family members supposedly fighting against a serious illness — being cited amidst rumours of the manufacturer reacting to two accidents Lapierre suffered in wet conditions at Le Mans and Austin.[22] [23] He was initially confirmed as one of their drivers for the 2015 season, but lost his race seat in January of that year.[24] [25]
Going into 2015, Lapierre stepped down into the LMP2 category, taking part in three races of the WEC with KCMG alongside Richard Bradley and Matthew Howson, replacing Nick Tandy for the Brit's Porsche-related absences.[26] He finished all three races on the class podium, highlighted by a victory at Le Mans where, despite a late off from Lapierre that required marshal assistance to get the car going, KCMG took a controlling victory.[27] [28] The same year also saw Lapierre drive for Thiriet by TDS Racing in the final round of the European Le Mans Series, which he won after a charging performance.[29] Finally, he also drove in the final four events of the World Touring Car Championship as part of the Lada works team.[30] [31]
Lapierre made LMP2 his home for the 2016 season, driving for Signatech Alpine in the WEC and with DragonSpeed in the ELMS.[32] [33] Partnering Gustavo Menezes and Stéphane Richelmi in the former, the Frenchman would distinguish himself by leading the team towards a dominant title; the team scored seven podiums, including a class win at the 24 Hours and three further victories.[34] [35] [36] Two retirements in the latter meanwhile prevented the DragonSpeed crew from fighting for the title, though Lapierre, Ben Hanley, and bronze-ranked Henrik Hedman managed to finish the season fourth overall after winning from pole at Spa.[37] Lapierre returned to Alpine for the 2017 WEC season, though he would be driving the third Toyota entry for the races at Spa and Le Mans.[38] [39] Once he returned to Alpine, Lapierre was able to improve their fortunes, scoring five successive podiums and winning the race in Austin.[40] This late surge propelled the team to third in the standings. Additionally, Lapierre re-joined DragonSpeed in the ELMS in 2017, though his three pole positions could not prevent the team from finishing eighth in the standings.[41]
For the 2018–19 WEC "Super Season" Lapierre returned to Alpine on a full-time basis, partnering André Negrão and silver-ranked Pierre Thiriet.[42] Throughout the campaign, the trio proved to be the class of the field, as they finished on the podium in each of the eight races on their way to the LMP2 title. Their two wins that season were both achieved at Le Mans: in 2018, Alpine inherited victory after a disqualification for G-Drive Racing, whereas the 2019 race was won after a secure performance, making Lapierre a four-time class winner at Le Mans in as many races.[43] [44] During this time, the Frenchman kept competing in the ELMS, moving to Cool Racing in 2019 after a final campaign for DragonSpeed.[45] [46] He remained at the team going into the 2019–20 WEC season, helping the team to take their maiden victory at the opening race in Silverstone.[47] [48] At the end of 2020, in a season which the team finished sixth out of eight teams (having fielded a bronze driver with team owner Alexandre Coigny), Lapierre became part of the Cool Racing team as its new team principal, as the outfit was renamed to Cool Racing / CLX Motorsport — the L in CLX standing for Lapierre.[49]
Lapierre entered the Le Mans Hypercar class of the WEC with Alpine in 2021, driving the grandfathered Alpine A480 together with Matthieu Vaxivière and André Negrão.[50] In a year where the only other full-time entrant Toyota dominated, the Alpine trio finished all six races on the podium and ended up third in the championship.[51] The French team returned with a strong performance at the season opener of the 2022 season, winning the shortened event at Sebring.[52] After a challenging Le Mans event the team won at Monza, though they were unable to hold the championship lead, eventually losing out to the #8 Toyota.[53] [54] As the usage of former LMP1 machines was disallowed in 2023, Lapierre instead focused on the LMP2 Pro-Am class of the ELMS with Cool Racing, where he had been driving for the past three years parallel to his Alpine exploits.[55] Driving alongside Alexandre Coigny and Peugeot reserve driver Malthe Jakobsen, Lapierre helped the team towards two Pro-Am victories at Spa and Algarve, though the squad narrowly lost out on the title to the AF Corse crew in the season finale.[56] [57] The trio also took part in the same subclass at Le Mans, where they finished second.[58]
Having completed a testing programme for Alpine's Hypercar, the A424, Lapierre became part of their WEC lineup again in 2024, driving the #36 alongside Vaxivière and Mick Schumacher.[59] [60]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | 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 1 | PAU 1 | PAU 2 | NOR 1 | NOR 1 | MAG 1 | MAG 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | ZAN 1 | ZAN 2 | BRN 1 | BRN 2 | HOC 1 | HOC 2 | 3rd | 85 | |
| Source:[61] [62] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Rank | Points | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | DragonSpeed | P | Oreca 05 | Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 | DAY | SEB | LBH | LGA | DET | WGL | MOS | ELK | COA | PET | 26th | 29 | [69] | |
| 2017 | DragonSpeed | P | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY | SEB | LBH | COA | DET | WGL | MOS | ROA | LAG | PET | 39th | 21 | [70] | |
| 2018 | Tequila Patrón ESM | P | Nissan Onroak DPi | Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 | DAY | SEB | LBH | MDO | DET | WGL | MOS | ELK | LGA | PET | 32nd | 63 | [71] | |
| 2019 | DragonSpeed | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY | SEB | MDO | WGL | MOS | ELK | LGA | PET | 13th | 30 | [72] | |||
| 2020 | Tower Motorsport By Starworks | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY | SEB | ELK | ATL | PET | LGA | SEB | NC† | 0† | [73] | ||||
| 2021 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY | SEB | WGL | WGL | ELK | LGA | PET | NC† | 0† | [74] | ||||
| 2022 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY | SEB | LGA | MDO | WGL | ELK | PET | NC† | 0† | [75] | ||||
| 2023 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY | SEB | LGA | WGL | ELK | IMS | PET | NC† | 0† | [76] | ||||
| Source: | ||||||||||||||||||
