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. Alpine purchased a stake in Signatech in 2024.
Racing history
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.
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.
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. 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.
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. The team continued with this lineup in 2022. For 2023, Signatech returned to the LMP2 category with two Oreca 07s;
They returned to the top class of the World Endurance Championship in 2024 with two Alpine A424s. The French manufacturer managed a fourth place in the standings, with the highlight being a third-place finish in the 6 Hours of Fuji.
Racing record
24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Entrant No. Car Drivers Class Laps 2009 Signature Plus 12 Courage-Oreca LC70E-Judd Didier André Franck Mailleux Pierre Ragues LMP1 344 11th 10th 2010 Signature Plus 008 Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 Vanina Ickx Franck Mailleux Pierre Ragues LMP1 302 DNF DNF 2011 Signatech Nissan 26 Oreca 03-Nissan Soheil Ayari Franck Mailleux Lucas Ordóñez LMP2 320 9th 2nd 2012 Signatech Nissan 23 Oreca 03-Nissan Olivier Lombard Franck Mailleux Jordan Tresson LMP2 340 16th 9th 26 Nelson Panciatici Pierre Ragues Roman Rusinov 351 10th 4th 2013 Signatech Alpine 36 Alpine A450-Nissan Tristan Gommendy Nelson Panciatici Pierre Ragues LMP2 317 14th 8th 2014 Signatech Alpine 36 Alpine A450b-Nissan Paul-Loup Chatin Nelson Panciatici Oliver Webb LMP2 355 7th 3rd 2015 Signatech Alpine 36 Alpine A450b-Nissan Vincent Capillaire Paul-Loup Chatin Nelson Panciatici LMP2 110 DNF DNF 2016 Baxi DC Racing Alpine 35 Alpine A460-Nissan David Cheng Nelson Panciatici Ho-Pin Tung LMP2 234 DNF DNF Signatech Alpine 36 Nicolas Lapierre Gustavo Menezes Stéphane Richelmi 357 5th 1st 2017 Signatech Alpine Matmut 35 Alpine A470-Gibson André Negrão Nelson Panciatici Pierre Ragues LMP2 362 4th 3rd 36 Romain Dumas Gustavo Menezes Matt Rao 351 10th 8th 2018 Signatech Alpine Matmut 36 Alpine A470-Gibson Nicolas Lapierre André Negrão Pierre Thiriet LMP2 367 5th 1st 2019 Signatech Alpine Matmut 36 Alpine A470-Gibson Nicolas Lapierre André Negrão Pierre Thiriet LMP2 368 6th 1st 2020 Signatech Alpine Elf 36 Alpine A470-Gibson Thomas Laurent André Negrão Pierre Ragues LMP2 367 8th 4th Richard Mille Racing Team 50 Oreca 07-Gibson Tatiana Calderón Sophia Flörsch Beitske Visser 364 13th 9th 2021 Alpine Elf Matmut 36 Alpine A480-Gibson Nicolas Lapierre André Negrão Matthieu Vaxivière Hypercar 367 3rd 3rd Richard Mille Racing Team 1 Oreca 07-Gibson Tatiana Calderón Sophia Flörsch Beitske Visser LMP2 74 DNF DNF 2022 Alpine Elf Team 36 Alpine A480-Gibson Nicolas Lapierre André Negrão Matthieu Vaxivière Hypercar 362 23rd 5th Richard Mille Racing Team 1 Oreca 07-Gibson Charles Milesi Sébastien Ogier Lilou Wadoux LMP2 366 13th 9th 2023 Alpine Elf Team 35 Oreca 07-Gibson Olli Caldwell André Negrão Memo Rojas LMP2 322 19th 9th 36 Julien Canal Charles Milesi Matthieu Vaxivière 327 12th 4th 2024 Alpine Endurance Team 35 Alpine A424 Paul-Loup Chatin Ferdinand Habsburg Charles Milesi Hypercar 75 DNF DNF 36 Nicolas Lapierre Mick Schumacher Matthieu Vaxivière 88 DNF DNF 2025 Alpine Endurance Team 35 Alpine A424 Paul-Loup Chatin Ferdinand Habsburg Charles Milesi Hypercar 385 9th 9th 36 Jules Gounon Frédéric Makowiecki Mick Schumacher 384 10th 10th 2026 Alpine Endurance Team 35 Alpine A424 António Félix da Costa Ferdinand Habsburg Charles Milesi Hypercar 381 6th 6th 36 Jules Gounon Frédéric Makowiecki Victor Martins 379 10th 10th
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship Results YearEntrantClassNoChassisEngineDriversRoundsPts1234567892012SEBSPALMSSILSÃOBHRFUJSHA Signatech-NissanLMP223Oreca 03Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 Olivier Lombard Franck Mailleux Jordan Tresson4139RetRet2856th6026 Pierre Ragues Nelson Panciatici Roman Rusinov124375EX72015SILSPALMSNÜRCOAFUJSHABHR Signatech AlpineLMP236Alpine A450bNissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 Nelson Panciatici Paul-Loup Chatin Vincent Capillaire Tom DillmannRet4Ret562144th862016SILSPALMSNÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR Signatech AlpineLMP236Alpine A460Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 Gustavo Menezes Nicolas Lapierre Stéphane Richelmi4111213431st1992017SILSPALMSNÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR Signatech Alpine MatmutLMP235Alpine A470Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 Nelson Panciatici Pierre Ragues André Negrão63Ret10th3836 Gustavo Menezes Matt Rao Nicolas Lapierre Romain Dumas André Negrão4553212243rd1512018-19SPALMSSILFUJSHASEBSPALMS Signatech Alpine MatmutLMP236Alpine A470Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 Nicolas Lapierre André Negrão Pierre Thiriet213332211st1812019-20SILFUJSHABHRCOASPALMSBHR Signatech Alpine ElfLMP236Alpine A470Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 Thomas Laurent André Negrão Pierre Ragues26446Ret355th1092021SPAPORMONLMNBHRBHR Alpine Elf MatmutHypercar36Alpine A480Gibson GL458 4.5 L V8 Nicolas Lapierre André Negrão Matthieu Vaxivière2323332nd128 Richard Mille Racing TeamLMP21Oreca 07Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 Sophia Flörsch Tatiana Calderón Beitske Visser Gabriel Aubry868Ret699th312022SEBSPALMNMONFUJBHR Alpine Elf TeamHypercar36Alpine A480Gibson GL458 4.5 L V8 Nicolas Lapierre André Negrão Matthieu Vaxivière1251332nd144 Richard Mille Racing TeamLMP21Oreca 07Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 Charles Milesi Lilou Wadoux Sébastien Ogier Paul-Loup Chatin128614889th302023SEBPORSPALMSMZAFUJBHR Alpine Elf TeamLMP235Oreca 07Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 Olli Caldwell André Negrão Memo RojasRet10878111011th2336 Julien Canal Charles Milesi Matthieu Vaxivière88732577th832024QATIMOSPALMNSÃOCOAFUJBHR Alpine Endurance TeamHypercar35Alpine A424Alpine V634 3.4 L Turbo V6 Paul-Loup Chatin Ferdinand Habsburg Jules Gounon Charles Milesi7139Ret125744th7036 Charles Milesi Mick Schumacher Matthieu Vaxivière Nicolas Lapierre111612Ret109392025QATIMOSPALMNSÃOCOAFUJBHR Alpine Endurance TeamHypercar35Alpine A424Alpine V634 3.4 L Turbo V6 Paul-Loup Chatin Ferdinand Habsburg Charles Milesi141381018111116th8436 Jules Gounon Frédéric Makowiecki Mick Schumacher1333119151412 * Championship ongoing.
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 2003–2011Formula Renault 3.5 Series2008 European Le Mans Series 2009–2010, 2013–2014, 2020 FIA Formula 3 European Championship 2014–2015
References
External links