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The 38-year-old has been a mainstay of the WEC since the series’ inception, initially as a Toyota driver in the top LMP1 class until he was dropped by the marque in mid-2014.
After a limited programme with the KCMG LMP2 team in 2015, which included his first Le Mans 24 Hours class win, Lapierre joined the Signatech-run Alpine outfit in 2016 and has raced there since, barring the 2019-20 campaign when he spearheaded Cool Racing’s line-up.
In 2021, Lapierre became a director of Cool Racing, in which he had previously been a shareholder, and for 2023 he will devote more of his time to running the Swiss outfit as he takes a year off from racing in the WEC.
He hopes to return in 2024 to drive Alpine’s new Oreca-derived LMDh prototype, which is expected to begin track testing later this year.
“This year I have a lo …