Signatech

Last updated
Flag of France.svg Signatech Alpine
Signatech Logo.png
Founded1990
Base Bourges, France
Team principal(s)Philippe Sinault
Current series FIA World Endurance Championship
Former series Formula 3 Euro Series
French Formula Three
FR 2.0 France
European Le Mans Series
European Formula 3
Current drivers Flag of France.svg Paul-Loup Chatin
Flag of France.svg Jules Gounon
Flag of Austria.svg Ferdinand Habsburg
Flag of France.svg Nicolas Lapierre
Flag of France.svg Charles Milesi
Flag of Germany.svg Mick Schumacher
Flag of France.svg Matthieu Vaxivière
Teams'
Championships
Formula 3 Euro Series :
2010
European Le Mans Series :
2013, 2014
FIA World Endurance Championship :
2016, 2018–19
Drivers'
Championships
Formula 3 Euro Series :
2010: Edoardo Mortara
European Le Mans Series :
2013: Pierre Ragues, Nelson Panciatici
2014: Paul-Loup Chatin, Nelson Panciatici, Oliver Webb

Signatech, currently competing as the Alpine Endurance Team, is a French auto racing team and racing car constructor that competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Signatech has been a long-term partner for Alpine since 2013, and has been responsible for running their Le Mans Prototype race cars in the WEC, most notably in the LMP2 class and more recently stepping up to the Le Mans Hypercar class with Alpine's A424 sports prototype. [1] Alpine purchased a stake in Signatech in 2024. [2]

Contents

Racing history

Alpine Endurance Team Logo AlpineEnduranceTeamLogo.jpeg
Alpine Endurance Team Logo

The team won the FIA European Formula Three Cup in 1999 with Benoît Tréluyer. It won the French Formula Three Championship in 2000 with Jonathan Cochet as driver, who also won the European Cup and Masters of Formula 3 that year, and won the Korea Super Prix for the team in 2001. In 2002, Renaud Derlot won the European F3 Cup for the team.

In 2003, Signature won the team championship in the first Formula Renault V6 Eurocup, with Tristan Gommendy and Kosuke Matsuura as drivers. They moved from the defunct French F3 series to its replacement, the Formula 3 Euro Series, and Nicolas Lapierre and Fabio Carbone completed a 1–2 finish for the team at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix. Edoardo Mortara and Jean-Karl Vernay repeated this feat in 2009. The team began competing in the 2009 European Le Mans Series in the LMP1 category.

The 2010 season was an outstanding one for Signature in the F3 Euroseries with Edoardo Mortara and Marco Wittmann finishing first and second in the series, winning eight races between them, and also taking the team championship.

Signatech provided the chassis for the Formula Future Fiat, a junior formula racing series in Brazil held in 2010 and 2011.

Signatech Nissan at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans Le Mans 2011 Signatech Nissan.jpg
Signatech Nissan at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans

In 2011, in cooperation with the Nissan GT Academy, Signatech finished second in LMP2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In 2012, Signature decided to pull out of the Formula 3 Euro Series, to concentrate on its involvement in sport car races.

The team finished tenth overall at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans using a Nissan-powered Oreca 03.

In 2013, Alpine partnered with Signatech to run an LMP2 car in the European Le Mans Series with French drivers Pierre Ragues and Nelson Panciatici. Signatech won the LMP2 Team's and Driver's championships.

In 2014, Signatech delivered chassis for the Formula 4 Sudamericana.

In 2015, Signatech, continuing its partnership with Alpine, returned to the FIA World Endurance Championship, winning the championship LMP2 category in 2016 and 2018–19.

The Alpine A110 GT4 is built by Signatech for Alpine Alpine, GIMS 2018, Le Grand-Saconnex (1X7A1670).jpg
The Alpine A110 GT4 is built by Signatech for Alpine

In 2020, Signatech returned to the European Le Mans Series under the name of Richard Mille Racing Team. The team previously planned to run an all-female lineup of Tatiana Calderón, Katherine Legge and Sophia Flörsch, however, due to Legge's injury, she was then replaced by André Negrão for the first two rounds. Beitske Visser would then take over Legge's place for the rest of the season. [3] The team would then join the LMP2 class of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, with an all-female lineup of Tatiana Calderón, Beitske Visser and Sophia Flörsch. [4]

Signatech's Alpine A480 at the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans (52175971889).png
Signatech's Alpine A480 at the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans

In 2021, the team partnered again with Alpine, this time fielding a "grandfathered" Rebellion R13 in the Le Mans Hypercar class for the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship season, which finished third overall at the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. [5] The team continued with this lineup in 2022. [6] For 2023, Signatech returned to the LMP2 category with two Oreca 07s; they will return to the top class of the World Endurance Championship in 2024 with two Alpine A424s. [7]

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

YearEntrantNo.CarDriversClassLapsPos.Class
Pos.
2009 Flag of France.svg Signature Plus12 Courage-Oreca LC70E-Judd Flag of France.svg Didier André
Flag of France.svg Franck Mailleux
Flag of France.svg Pierre Ragues
LMP134411th10th
2010 Flag of France.svg Signature Plus008 Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Vanina Ickx
Flag of France.svg Franck Mailleux
Flag of France.svg Pierre Ragues
LMP1302DNFDNF
2011 Flag of France.svg Signatech Nissan 26 Oreca 03-Nissan Flag of France.svg Soheil Ayari
Flag of France.svg Franck Mailleux
Flag of Spain.svg Lucas Ordóñez
LMP23209th2nd
2012 Flag of France.svg Signatech Nissan 23 Oreca 03-Nissan Flag of France.svg Olivier Lombard
Flag of France.svg Franck Mailleux
Flag of France.svg Jordan Tresson
LMP234016th9th
26 Flag of France.svg Nelson Panciatici
Flag of France.svg Pierre Ragues
Flag of Russia.svg Roman Rusinov
35110th4th
2013 Flag of France.svg Signatech Alpine 36 Alpine A450-Nissan Flag of France.svg Tristan Gommendy
Flag of France.svg Nelson Panciatici
Flag of France.svg Pierre Ragues
LMP231714th8th
2014 Flag of France.svg Signatech Alpine 36 Alpine A450b-Nissan Flag of France.svg Paul-Loup Chatin
Flag of France.svg Nelson Panciatici
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Oliver Webb
LMP23557th3rd
2015 Flag of France.svg Signatech Alpine 36 Alpine A450b-Nissan Flag of France.svg Vincent Capillaire
Flag of France.svg Paul-Loup Chatin
Flag of France.svg Nelson Panciatici
LMP2110DNFDNF
2016 Flag of France.svg Signatech Alpine 36 Alpine A460-Nissan Flag of France.svg Nicolas Lapierre
Flag of the United States.svg Gustavo Menezes
Flag of Monaco.svg Stéphane Richelmi
LMP23575th1st
2017 Flag of France.svg Signatech Alpine Matmut35 Alpine A470-Gibson Flag of Brazil.svg André Negrão
Flag of France.svg Nelson Panciatici
Flag of France.svg Pierre Ragues
LMP23624th3rd
36 Flag of France.svg Romain Dumas
Flag of the United States.svg Gustavo Menezes
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Matt Rao
35110th8th
2018 Flag of France.svg Signatech Alpine Matmut36 Alpine A470-Gibson Flag of France.svg Nicolas Lapierre
Flag of Brazil.svg André Negrão
Flag of France.svg Pierre Thiriet
LMP23675th1st
2019 Flag of France.svg Signatech Alpine Matmut36 Alpine A470-Gibson Flag of France.svg Nicolas Lapierre
Flag of Brazil.svg André Negrão
Flag of France.svg Pierre Thiriet
LMP23686th1st
2020 Flag of France.svg Signatech Alpine Elf36 Alpine A470-Gibson Flag of France.svg Thomas Laurent
Flag of Brazil.svg André Negrão
Flag of France.svg Pierre Ragues
LMP23678th4th
Flag of France.svg Richard Mille Racing Team50 Oreca 07-Gibson Flag of Colombia.svg Tatiana Calderón
Flag of Germany.svg Sophia Flörsch
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
36413th9th
2021 Flag of France.svg Alpine Elf Matmut36 Alpine A480-Gibson Flag of France.svg Nicolas Lapierre
Flag of Brazil.svg André Negrão
Flag of France.svg Matthieu Vaxivière
Hypercar3673rd3rd
Flag of France.svg Richard Mille Racing Team1 Oreca 07-Gibson Flag of Colombia.svg Tatiana Calderón
Flag of Germany.svg Sophia Flörsch
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Beitske Visser
LMP274DNFDNF
2022 Flag of France.svg Alpine Elf Team36 Alpine A480-Gibson Flag of France.svg Nicolas Lapierre
Flag of Brazil.svg André Negrão
Flag of France.svg Matthieu Vaxivière
Hypercar36223rd5th
Flag of France.svg Richard Mille Racing Team1 Oreca 07-Gibson Flag of France.svg Charles Milesi
Flag of France.svg Sébastien Ogier
Flag of France.svg Lilou Wadoux
LMP236613th9th
2023 Flag of France.svg Alpine Elf Team35 Oreca 07-Gibson Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Olli Caldwell
Flag of Brazil.svg André Negrão
Flag of Mexico.svg Memo Rojas
LMP232219th9th
36 Flag of France.svg Julien Canal
Flag of France.svg Charles Milesi
Flag of France.svg Matthieu Vaxivière
32712th4th
2024 Flag of France.svg Alpine Endurance Team35 Alpine A424 Flag of France.svg Paul-Loup Chatin
Flag of Austria.svg Ferdinand Habsburg
Flag of France.svg Charles Milesi
Hypercar75DNFDNF
36 Flag of France.svg Nicolas Lapierre
Flag of Germany.svg Mick Schumacher
Flag of France.svg Matthieu Vaxivière
88DNFDNF

Timeline

Current series/events
24 Hours of Le Mans 2009–present
FIA World Endurance Championship 2012, 2015–present
Former series
French Formula Three Championship 1993–2002
French Formula Renault Championship 2000, 2002
Formula Renault V6 Eurocup 2003
Formula 3 Euro Series 2003–2011
Formula Renault 3.5 Series 2008
European Le Mans Series 2009–2010, 2013–2014, 2020
FIA Formula 3 European Championship 2014–2015

References

  1. "Alpine is gunning for Le Mans glory with its A424 Hypercar". evo. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  2. "Alpine demonstrates long-term commitment to WEC, buying stake in Signatech". RACER. 2024-09-25. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  3. Lloyd, Daniel (2020-01-29). "Signatech, Richard Mille Linked to All-Female LMP2 Entry". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  4. Lloyd, Daniel (2021-01-20). "Richard Mille Racing Moves Up to WEC LMP2 Ranks". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  5. Dagys, John (14 September 2020). "Alpine Confirms LMP1 Program – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
  6. "No Change For Alpine In 2022 Driver Squad | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  7. Klein, Jamie (9 June 2023). "Alpine launches A424 Beta LMDh car for 2024 WEC campaign". Autosport . Retrieved 13 July 2023.

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Achievements
Preceded by Formula 3 Euro Series Teams' Champion
2010
Succeeded by