Alpine has big ambitions for the 2021 motorsport year.
Not only will they re-badge the Renault F1 team to Alpine, but they will also get up one notch in their sportscar programme.
The team has competed in the LMP2 category during the past few seasons, with an ORECA 07 renamed as Alpine A470, and prior to that, an ORECA 03 under the A450 name.
They will keep the ORECA connection since they will enter the LMP1 category from 2021 with the Rebellion R13 model, that ORECA has developed and build. It will get some sort of Alpine designation, that hasn’t been revealed yet.
Rebellion Racing won’t need the cars any longer, since they are closing their programme following this FIA World Endurance Championship season.
Alpine will be the first brand, who has confirmed their entry with an “old” LMP1 car, who will fight against the brand new Hypercars from Toyota, Glickenhaus and ByKolles in the upcoming season. That leaves the ACO with some BOP calculations to do, so the two types of cars can compete against each other. Toyota is the only confirmed car with a hybrid system, while it’s pure combustion engines at the two other marques.
Alpine won Le Mans overall in 1978 with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Didier Pironi, and their big goal is to win the race overall again. They have won the LMP2 category three times during recent years, so they are aiming at grabbing the big trophy during the upcoming seasons. Especially when they are going to race against Peugeot, from 2022, since there is a big battle between the Renault group, which Alpine is a part of, and the PSA group, that has Peugeot under its wings.
No drivers have been named yet, but Signatech will still run the cars.
The Signatech Alpine Elf team currently sits 6th in the FIA WEC LMP2 standings, which got a huge knock to their campaign last time out at Spa Francorchamps, when Thomas Laurent crashed the car heavily with just over an hour to go. Thankfully, he was able to step out of the car completely unhurt, but the mechanics have been working overtime since, to get the car ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend.
