Nicolas Lapierre

Nicolas Lapierre (born 2 April 1984 in Thonon-les-Bains, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France) is a French racing driver, who competed in the FIA GP2 Series between 2005 and 2007. Noted as the first driver to claim a pole position in GP2, Lapierre would have a curious three-season stay in GP2, consistently entering each season as a title contender, only for his form to desert him.

Lapierre joined the inaugural GP2 Series with Arden International, who signed the Frenchman up to partner Heikki Kovalainen. Lapierre would go on to claim pole position for the first ever GP2 race, only for a mechanical issue to cruelly deny him a start, before getting heavily out-scored by Kovalainen across the rest of the campaign.

Regardless, Arden retained Lapierre for the 2006 campaign, who took over as their lead driver alongside rookie Michael Ammermüller. Lapierre started the season strongly, claiming multiple podiums, before a mid-season injury saw him miss four races and be replaced by Neel Jani. The Frenchman would return to complete the season, although the injury had destroyed his momentum and ultimately left him down in ninth in the championship.

For 2007 Lapierre secured a move to DAMS for the campaign, partnering Kazuki Nakajima as team leader for the French squad. That season would see Lapierre finally claim his maiden GP2 victory, adding a second later in the campaign, but an otherwise disappointing third tour saw Lapierre only secure twelfth in the championship.

After ending his GP2 pursuit, Lapierre moved into sports cars full time, making multiple starts in the Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2012 the Frenchman became a factory driver for Toyota in the new World Endurance Championship, before dropping back to the LMP2 class in 2015 after being dropped from their third entry. Lapierre went on to secure four LMP2 class wins at Le Mans, as well as two WEC LMP2 titles in 2016 and 2018-19 with Signatech-Alpine.

Background
Lapierre's career began in typical fashion, the Frenchman karting in his youth through to making his single-seater debut in 1999 when he took part in part of the French Formula Renault championship. In 2000 Lapierre would secure a full campaign in the French Formula Renault championship, while also making several appearances in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup. A repeat schedule for Lapierre would follow in 2001, with the Frenchman scoring eighth in FR France, and 28th in the Eurocup, having called an end to his campaign in the latter prematurely.

A European Calling: 2002 - 2004
In 2002 Lapierre would mix up his schedule, with a run to third in the Eurocup his main focus alongside races in two classes of French FR, and a handful of appearances in Formula 3 France. In 2003 Lapierre followed the merger of French F3 with German F3 to form the Formula 3 Euro Series, finishing eleventh in the inaugural season. Lapierre would also claim a debut victory in the non-Championship Macau Grand Prix, with appearances in the Masters and Korean Super Prix as well.

For 2004 Lapierre would again focus in the Euro Series, finishing third after duelling with Alexandre Prémat for second late in the season. The Frenchman would also make appearances in British F3, the European Cup and the Masters, but would not have success in those particular events.

GP2 Series History
Lapierre was selected by Arden International to join their new FIA GP2 Series squad ahead of the inaugural 2005 season, with the Frenchman partnering Heikki Kovalainen for the campaign.

Post GP2 Series Career
Alongside his GP2 commitments, Lapierre would compete in the w:c:motorsport:A1 Grand Prix series in 2005/06, sweeping to the inaugural Championship for Team France despite only appearing in half of the seasons' races. He would again campaign in A1 Grand Prix in 2006/07, although only for a handful of races, while also making his 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GT1 class in 2007. After ending his single-seater career at the end of 2007, Lapierre secured a seat in the LMP1 class of the Le Mans Series, finishing third in the 2009 season.

Endurance Epiphany: 2009 - 2021
In 2010 Lapierre led the Oreca team to second in the Le Mans Series, after they secured an ex-factory Peugeot 908 to race for the campaign as well as Le Mans itself. A further season with Oreca followed, before Lapierre signed up to the new factory Toyota team, which would enter the equally new FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012. The Frenchman went on to claim third in the WEC alongside Alexander Wurz, with those two also claiming the first win for Toyota in the WEC.

Lapierre remained as a factory driver for Toyota through to the 2014 season, when the Frenchman was relegated to their third, partial season, entry. For 2015 Lapierre moved down to the LMP2 class, joining KCMG, and would duly lead that squad to their maiden 24 Hours of Le Mans class victory during the campaign. 2016 saw Lapierre move to Signatech-Alpine, with the Frenchman winning the LMP2 Class in the WEC and Le Mans alongside Gustavo Menezes and Stéphane Richelmi.

For 2017 Lapierre would return to the factory Toyota squad temporarily, replacing an injured José María López in the squad, while also running in the European Le Mans Series. Otherwise, the Frenchman would spend 2017 and the 2018-19 Super Season with Signatech-Alpine in LMP2, claiming two more class victories at Le Mans, as well as the Super Season LMP2 title. For 2019-20 Lapierre moved to Cool Racing, finishing ninth in the LMP2 class of the WEC.

Full GP2 Series Record
Shown below are a series of tables outlining 's career in the GP2 Series in statistical form.

GP2 Series Entries
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for during their GP2 career:

Career Results
Below is a table showing 's full GP2 Series record.


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