| Nicolas Lapierre | |
|---|---|
 Lapierre at the2013 6 Hours of Silverstone | |
| Nationality |  French |
| Born | (1984-04-02)2 April 1984 (age 41) Thonon-les-Bains, France |
| Racing licence |  FIA Platinum |
| Previous series | |
| 2007 2005–2007 2005–06–2007–08 2004 2003–2004 2002 2001–2002 2000–2002 | 24 Hours of Le Mans (GT1) GP2 Series A1 Grand Prix British Formula 3 Formula 3 Euroseries French Formula 3 French Formula Renault 2000 Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup |
| Championship titles | |
| 2016,2018-19 2005–06 | FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers A1 Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
|---|---|
| Years | 2007,2009 – |
| Best finish | 3rd(2014) |
| Class wins | 4 (2015,2016,2018,2019) |
Nicolas Camile Bernard Lapierre (born 2 April 1984) is a retired French professional racing driver and team principal. Notable for winning the LMP2 class four times at the24 Hours of Le Mans, Lapierre was a factory driver atToyota during the early days of theWEC before becoming a staple of theAlpine team until his retirement in 2024. He is also a two-time winner of the12 Hours of Sebring and the 2003 champion at theMacau Grand Prix. Nicolas is married and has 3 children.
Born inThonon-les-Bains, Lapierre started his career in 1993 inkarting, 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 toFrench Formula Renault in 1999. He stayed there for 2000 and 2001, 2001 also seeing two races inFormula Renault 2000 Eurocup. He again raced in French Formula Renault in 2002, also driving a full season of 2000 Eurocup and some races of FrenchFormula Three (most of them being in the main class, although he drove two races in the B-Class also).
2003 saw Lapierre move toFormula 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 prestigiousMacau Grand Prix.[1] He stayed in the Euroseries for2004, once again driving for Signature.[2] With a victory atPau and two wins at theHockenheimring, Lapierre ended up third in the standings.
Following his Euro Series success, Lapierre progressed into the newly restructuredGP2 Series in 2005, partneringHeikki Kovalainen atArden 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 forA1 Team France in numerous races of theA1 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 in2006, starting the season off well by taking three podium finishes in the opening three rounds. However, a crash caused by a competitor atMonaco 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 inA1 GP whilst signing forDAMS inGP2.[4] In a year plagued with a heap of retirements, the Frenchman was able to score his first win in the series during theBahrain sprint race, meanwhile a victory from pole during theSpa 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 the2007 24 Hours of Le Mans for Team Oreca, Lapierre made a full-time switch to sportscars in 2008, competing in theLMP1 category of theLe Mans Series withTeam Oreca-Matmut alongside former F1 driverOlivier Panis. The duo retired from three races, though they were able to claim a podium at the series's crown jewel event: the1000 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 atSilverstone.[6][7] Lapierre also drove atLe Mans that year, finishing fifth alongside Panis andSoheil Ayari.[8]
For the 2010 season, Lapierre once again drove for Oreca-Matmut, this time piloting aPeugeot 908 HDi FAP. He finished second in the drivers' championship of theLe Mans Series, having won from pole at theAlgarve.[9] AtLe Mans, Lapierre, Panis, andLoïc 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 newIntercontinental Le Mans Cup. Alongside his 2010 Le Mans teammates, Lapierre beat the Peugeot works entry by winning the opening race atSebring, 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 forToyota in 2012 as part of their programme in the newly-formedFIA World Endurance Championship, where he andAlexander Wurz would be driving theToyota TS030 Hybrid #7 entry from the24 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 atSão Paulo,Fuji, andShanghai.[14][15][16][17] In 2013, the Frenchman remained in theWEC together with Wurz andKazuki Nakajima.[18] The season proved to be challenging during its first half, with the car retiring atSpa and not being entered at two races. However, victory inJapan (where the race was abandoned after 16 laps behind the safety car due to wet conditions) and a second place from pole inChina 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 theWEC season alongsideAnthony Davidson andSébastien Buemi.[20] Strong showings atSilverstone andSpa yielded two victories for the #8, meanwhile Lapierre scored his bestLe Mans result to date with a third place overall.[21] Following another podium atCircuit 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 theLMP2 category, taking part in three races of theWEC withKCMG alongsideRichard Bradley andMatthew Howson, replacingNick Tandy for the Brit'sPorsche-related absences.[26] He finished all three races on the class podium, highlighted by a victory atLe 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 forThiriet by TDS Racing in the final round of theEuropean Le Mans Series, which he won after a charging performance.[29] Finally, he also drove in the final four events of theWorld Touring Car Championship as part of theLada works team.[30][31]
Lapierre made LMP2 his home for the 2016 season, driving forSignatechAlpine in theWEC and withDragonSpeed in theELMS.[32][33] PartneringGustavo Menezes andStéphane 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 the24 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 atSpa.[37] Lapierre returned to Alpine for the2017 WEC season, though he would be driving the thirdToyota entry for the races atSpa andLe Mans.[38][39] Once he returned to Alpine, Lapierre was able to improve their fortunes, scoring five successive podiums and winning the race inAustin.[40] This late surge propelled the team to third in the standings. Additionally, Lapierre re-joined DragonSpeed in theELMS in 2017, though his three pole positions could not prevent the team from finishing eighth in the standings.[41]
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For the2018–19 WEC "Super Season" Lapierre returned to Alpine on a full-time basis, partneringAndré Negrão and silver-rankedPierre 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: in2018, Alpine inherited victory after a disqualification forG-Drive Racing, whereas the2019 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 theELMS, moving toCool Racing in2019 after a final campaign for DragonSpeed.[45][46] He remained at the team going into the2019–20 WEC season, helping the team to take their maiden victory at the opening race inSilverstone.[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 theLe Mans Hypercar class of theWEC with Alpine in 2021, driving the grandfatheredAlpine A480 together withMatthieu 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 the2022 season, winning the shortened event atSebring.[52] After a challengingLe Mans event the team won atMonza, 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 theELMS with Cool Racing, where he had been driving for the past three years parallel to his Alpine exploits.[55] Driving alongside Alexandre Coigny andPeugeot reserve driverMalthe Jakobsen, Lapierre helped the team towards two Pro-Am victories atSpa andAlgarve, though the squad narrowly lost out on the title to theAF Corse crew in the season finale.[56][57] The trio also took part in the same subclass atLe Mans, where they finished second.[58]
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Having completed a testing programme for Alpine's Hypercar, theA424, Lapierre became part of their WEC lineup again in2024, driving the #36 alongside Vaxivière andMick Schumacher.[59][60]
Lapierre would announce his retirement on 2 October 2024 prior to the conclusion of the 2024 WEC season inBahrain.[61] The2024 6 Hours of Fuji would be his final motor race, completing the event with a podium finish in 3rd with the A424 alongside Vaxivière and Schumacher. Lapierre stated that he would turn his focus towards his team principal role atCOOL Racing.[62] Two days later, Lapierre was named Sporting Director for Alpine's endurance team in 2025, working under team principal Philippe Sinault.[63]
† Ineligible for points‡ Teams Standings
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Tech 1 Racing | MNZ | BRN | MAG | SIL | ZOL | HUN | SPI 9 | NÜR | JAR | EST 15 | 27th | 4 |
| 2002 | Graff Racing | MAG 5 | SIL 2 | JAR 2 | AND 9 | OSC 7 | SPA 6 | IMO 3 | DON 5 | EST | 3rd | 120 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Optirace Sport | Dallara F399 | Renault | B | NOG 1 | NOG 2 | LÉD 1 | LÉD 2 | DIJ 1 | DIJ 2 | CRO 1 8 | CRO 2 3 | 6th | 40 | ||||||
| Signatech | Dallara F399 | Renault | A | ALB 1 8 | ALB 2 9 | LMS 1 | LMS 2 | MAG 1 9 | MAG 2 10 | 13th | 15 | |||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics 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 5 | HOC 2 Ret | ADR 1 6 | ADR 2 11 | PAU 1 DSQ | PAU 2 15 | NOR 1 6 | NOR 2 6 | LMS 1 13 | LMS 2 5 | NÜR 1 11 | NÜR 2 Ret | A1R 1 16 | A1R 2 10 | ZAN 1 9 | ZAN 2 9 | HOC 1 3 | HOC 2 7 | MAG 1 5 | MAG 2 6 | 11th | 33 |
| 2004 | Opel Team Signature-Plus | Dallara F304/004 | Spiess-Opel | HOC 1 8 | HOC 2 Ret | EST 1 3 | EST 2 3 | ADR 1 14 | ADR 1 4 | PAU 1 2 | PAU 2 1 | NOR 1 15 | NOR 1 5 | MAG 1 8 | MAG 2 4 | NÜR 1 8 | NÜR 2 6 | ZAN 1 2 | ZAN 2 4 | BRN 1 9 | BRN 2 Ret | HOC 1 1 | HOC 2 1 | 3rd | 85 |
| Source:[64][65] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arden International | IMO FEA DNS | IMO SPR Ret | CAT FEA 11 | CAT SPR 9 | MON FEA Ret | NÜR FEA 12 | NÜR SPR Ret | MAG FEA 3 | MAG SPR 5 | SIL FEA 10 | SIL SPR Ret | HOC FEA 9 | HOC SPR 7 | HUN FEA 12 | HUN SPR 6 | IST FEA Ret | IST SPR 13 | MNZ FEA 4 | MNZ SPR Ret | SPA FEA Ret | SPA SPR 23† | BHR FEA 6 | BHR SPR 20 | 12th | 21 |
| 2006 | Arden International Ltd | VAL FEA 4 | VAL SPR 3 | IMO FEA 3 | IMO SPR 7 | NÜR FEA 5 | NÜR SPR 2 | CAT FEA Ret | CAT SPR Ret | MON FEA Ret | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | MAG FEA | MAG SPR | HOC FEA 20 | HOC SPR 7 | HUN FEA Ret | HUN SPR Ret | IST FEA 14 | IST SPR 6 | MNZ FEA 6 | MNZ SPR 4 | 9th | 32 | ||
| 2007 | DAMS | BHR FEA 7 | BHR SPR 1 | CAT FEA Ret | CAT SPR DNS | MON FEA Ret | MAG FEA 8 | MAG SPR Ret | SIL FEA Ret | SIL SPR DNS | NÜR FEA 9 | NÜR SPR Ret | HUN FEA Ret | HUN SPR 14 | IST FEA 15 | IST SPR Ret | MNZ FEA 10 | MNZ SPR 17† | SPA FEA 1 | SPA SPR 21 | VAL FEA Ret | VAL SPR 21 | 12th | 23 | ||
| Source:[64][65] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Lada Sport Rosneft | Lada Vesta WTCC | ARG 1 | ARG 2 | MAR 1 | MAR 2 | HUN 1 | HUN 2 | GER 1 | GER 2 | RUS 1 | RUS 2 | SVK 1 | SVK 2 | FRA 1 | FRA 2 | POR 1 | POR 2 | JPN 1 11 | JPN 2 8 | CHN 1 DSQ | CHN 2 9 | THA 1 Ret | THA 2 DNS | QAT 1 10 | QAT 2 10 | 16th | 8 |
| Source:[71] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics 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 4 | LBH | LGA | DET | WGL | MOS | ELK | COA | PET | 26th | 29 | [72] |
| 2017 | DragonSpeed | P | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 10 | SEB | LBH | COA | DET | WGL | MOS | ROA | LAG | PET | 39th | 21 | [73] |
| 2018 | Tequila Patrón ESM | P | Nissan Onroak DPi | Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6 | DAY 18 | SEB 1 | LBH | MDO | DET | WGL 16 | MOS | ELK | LGA | PET | 32nd | 63 | [74] |
| 2019 | DragonSpeed | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 3 | SEB | MDO | WGL | MOS | ELK | LGA | PET | 13th | 30 | [75] | ||
| 2020 | Tower Motorsport By Starworks | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 4† | SEB | ELK | ATL | PET | LGA | SEB | NC† | 0† | [76] | |||
| 2021 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 7† | SEB | WGL | WGL | ELK | LGA | PET | NC† | 0† | [77] | |||
| 2022 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 4† | SEB | LGA | MDO | WGL | ELK | PET | NC† | 0† | [78] | |||
| 2023 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 LV8 | DAY 7† | SEB | LGA | WGL | ELK | IMS | PET | NC† | 0† | [79] | |||
| Source:[65] | |||||||||||||||||
† Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Macau Grand Prix Winner 2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Inaugural | A1 Grand Prix Champion (Team France) 2005-06 With:Alexandre Prémat | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers 2016 With:Stephane Richelmi &Gustavo Menezes | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers 2018-19 With:André Negrão &Pierre Thiriet | Succeeded by |
| FIA Formula 2 Championship |
|
|---|---|
| FIA Formula 3 Championship |
|
| Vehicles |
|
