Nicolas Lapierre will step into his new role outside the cockpit at Alpine in the World Endurance Championship in 2025.
The 40-year-old veteran had been driving the No. 36 Alpine A424 Hypercar in the WEC this season alongside Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere.
Lapierre had been considering retiring from racing for some time, and following the Six Hours of Fuji, it was officially confirmed by the Frenchman that he would be stepping away from the car and moving into a more technical role.
The 40-year-old has now turned his attention to his team principal role with Cool Racing in the European Le Mans Series. In 2025, he will become the Sporting Director at Alpine in the WEC.
Nicolas Lapierre happy he finished his racing career ‘on a high’ before moving into technical role with Alpine
Lapierre enjoyed an illustrious racing career, winning the A1 GP series for France in the 2005/06 season.
But the 40-year-old’s biggest successes came in endurance racing. Lapierre has won two WEC titles in the LMP2 class in 2016 and 2018/19, winning 17 races in that time and two victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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Speaking with Eurosport at the WEC season finale in Bahrain, Lapierre admitted the ‘weird’ feeling of not being in the car, but he was happy to have ended his career ‘on a high.’
“Honestly, I would lie if I say it feels normal. It’s very different,” he said. “In free practice one, when I saw the car leaving the pit lane and I was not dressed in my overalls, it was kind of weird. But I would say expected.
“It’s a long-term decision. I thought about it more than a year ago, so I was ready. It was not a last-minute choice.
“I feel happy and I feel relieved about it because I thought it was about the time to do it. I was also extremely pleased that I finished in a nice way, being on the podium in Fuji was very special.
“I knew it was my last race so I wanted to finish on a high.”
Alpine achieved their first WEC podium in Fuji
As the 2024 WEC season heads into the final race of the year for the Eight Hours of Bahrain, Alpine have had a fairly inconsistent first year in the Hypercar class.
Charles Milesi in the No. 35 car is the highest-placed driver in the standings heading into the race, having grabbed 27 points from four of the seven previous races, with a best finish of fifth in Austin.
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Lapierre’s No. 36 endured a difficult start to the year, having failed to score points in the opening four races, retiring from Le Mans.
After two points finishes in Sao Paulo and Austin, Lapierre, Schumacher and Vaxiviere grabbed the team’s first podium in the WEC with third in Fuji.