Alpine set to race on in WEC next year with current LMP1 car
Alpine and the Signatech team are looking certain to race on in the FIA World Endurance Championship next season with their LMP1 Oreca.
Signatech boss Philippe Sinault has re-iterated an intent to continue in the Hypercar class in 2022 with the Gibson-engined P1 design that now races with Alpine A480 badges.
His assertion follows the confirmation of the extension of the so-called grandfathering of LMP1 cars at last month's World Motor Sport Council into the 2022 season, as well as the news that Alpine will develop an LMDh for the WEC in conjunction with French constructor Oreca for 2024.
"We are considering strongly to continue in the WEC next year with the current car," Sinault, whose team moved up from LMP2 to WEC's premier class for this season with the car that formerly raced at the Rebellion R-13. "We are all pushing in that direction."
Sinault stressed that he couldn't confirm the programme until Alpine's entry has been accepted: the closing date for registrations for the 2022 WEC isn't until January.
"We have to complete our entry dossier and submit it to the WEC committee," he said. "We will have to see if we fulfil all the requirements."
An intent to continue with its current driver line-up of Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andre Negrao was outlined by Sinault.
He wouldn't be drawn on Alpine's WEC plans for 2023, the season between the likely end of the A480's eligibility and the arrival of the LMDh prototype.
"For sure there will be testing [with the LMDh] and a very strong development programme," said Sinault. "But we are a race team and we have to find a way to continue racing."
Asked whether a return to P2 is possible, he replied: "It is on the table."
Signatech linked up with Renault-owned Alpine in LMP2 for the European Le Mans Series and an attack on the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2013.
It successes in the in the secondary prototype category include two titles in each of the WEC and the ELMS, as well as three class victories at Le Mans.
The WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain will be streamed live on Motorsport.tv. Click here for more information.
Related video
Porsche to give new LMDh car first run this year
Nakajima to leave Toyota Hypercar team after 2021 WEC season
Why F1-snubbed Davidson has no regrets in retirement
He may not have won the Le Mans 24 Hours - falling agonisingly short in 2016 - and didn't get the opportunities in Formula 1 his talents merited. But after calling time on his professional career last month, Anthony Davidson says his pride in his performances with Peugeot and Toyota in LMP1 mean more than the results he achieved
Why Le Mans didn't decide Toyota's WEC title outcome in 2021
Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez scored a second successive FIA World Endurance Championship title in the #7 Toyota, as its new Le Mans Hypercar went unbeaten. Motorsport.com recaps how each of the four classes in the 2021 season were won and picks out the best LMH and GTE drivers
The unanswered questions that define WEC 2021's controversial ending
OPINION: The deeply unsatisfying ending to a brilliant World Endurance Championship GTE Pro battle in Bahrain had Ferrari provisionally heading back from the desert as the victor. But Porsche plans to appeal the outcome, which rests on a number of confusing elements that have yet to be satisfactorily explained.
How the WEC's heavyweight duel reached its controversial flashpoint
The Ferrari versus Porsche fight for the FIA World Endurance Championship's GTE Pro title had been a finely-poised affair, right up until Alessandro Pier Guidi's punt on Michael Christensen in the closing stages of the Bahrain 8 Hours handed Ferrari a provisional title, pending Porsche's appeal. Here's how the controversy played out.
The remarkable fixes Toyota used to avert another Le Mans disaster
The 1-2 finish achieved by Toyota at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours was a result that will have surprised few, given its status as pre-event favourite. But the result was anything but straightforward, as worsening fuel pressure concerns required the team's drivers and engineers to pursue "creative fixes" on the fly. Here is the full story of how it reached the end without a lengthy pit visit
The 10 greatest drives of lost legend Jo Siffert
It's 50 years since Jo Siffert was killed in his prime at Brands Hatch. The Swiss scored just two world championship wins in a Formula 1 career spent largely with privateer teams, but showed on numerous occasions in single-seaters and in sportscars with Porsche that he could beat any of the best drivers of his era given the right equipment.
Inside the Le Mans finish too barmy for Hollywood
Team WRT has been at the forefront of GT racing for years and made a successful move to prototypes for 2021, capped by an LMP2 win on its Le Mans debut. It could've been even better had the race been one lap shorter, when its cars ran 1-2, but the stranger-than-fiction reality has spurred the team to reach greater heights.
Why Toyota's Le Mans victory was not as simple as it looked
Toyota scored its fourth Le Mans 24 Hours victory and a 1-2, with the #7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez beating the #8. But although it looked straightforward from the outside, Toyota faced serious problem that had to be solved with some quick-thinking and ingenuity.