Nicolas Lapierre

Nicolas Lapierre (born 2 April 1984) is a French professional racing driver. He raced in the first three seasons of the GP2 Series and is currently a works driver for LADA Sport in the FIA World Touring Car Championship

Early career

Born in Thonon-les-Bains, Lapierre started his career in 1993 in karting, finishing 3rd in the French championship in 1996, 6th in the European Championships in 1997 and reaching the finals of the European Junior Championship in 1998 before moving to French Formula Renault in 1999. He stayed there for 2000 and 2001, 2001 also seeing two races in Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup. He again raced in French Formula Renault in 2002, also driving a full season of 2000 Eurocup and some races of French Formula Three (most of them being in the main class, although he drove two races in the B-Class also).

2003 saw Lapierre move to Formula Three Euroseries with the Signature team and earn a win in the Macau Grand Prix. He stayed in the Euroseries for 2004, also driving two races of British Formula 3.

With his reputation increasing and his talent proven, Lapierre was rewarded for his Euroseries performances with a drive in GP2 Series for current champions Arden Motorsport. He partnered with Heikki Kovalainen.

GP2 & A1GP

During 2005 Lapierre drove for A1 Team France in the A1 Grand Prix series helping the team win the championship and therefore the World Cup of Motorsport. Nicolas won both the sprint and main race events in Germany and Australia, the main race in Dubai and the sprint in Indonesia.

During 2006 he continued with the Arden team in GP2, however his season was interrupted by a spectacular first corner crash in Monaco in which he was a victim of someone else's accident. Nicolas received two compressed vertebrae in the crash and missed the British round of the series. Despite this, his points score was higher than the previous season's tally.

Lapierre was dropped at the end of 2006 and has since signed to participate in a 3rd season of GP2 for the DAMS team, which finished 10th overall in the constructors' standings and runs the French A1 GP team, which won the first season of A1 Grand Prix.

Touring Cars

Lapierre was announced as a LADA driver for the remainder of the 2015 World Touring Car Championship in August 2015, replacing Jaap van Lagen at the Russian team.

Career results

Complete Formula Three Euro Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2007	Team Oreca	Stéphane Ortelli Soheil Ayari	Saleen S7-R	GT1	318	16th	9th
2009	Team Oreca-Matmut AIM	Olivier Panis Soheil Ayari	Oreca 01-AIM	LMP1	370	5th	5th
2010	Team Oreca-Matmut	Olivier Panis Loïc Duval	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	LMP1	373	DNF	DNF
2011	Team Oreca-Matmut	Olivier Panis Loïc Duval	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	LMP1	339	5th	5th
2012	Toyota Racing	Alexander Wurz Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	LMP1	134	DNF	DNF
2013	Toyota Racing	Alexander Wurz Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	LMP1	341	4th	4th
2014	Toyota Racing	Anthony Davidson Sébastien Buemi	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	LMP1-H	374	3rd	3rd
2015	KCMG	Matthew Howson Richard Bradley	Oreca 05-Nissan	LMP2	358	9th	1st
2016	Signatech Alpine	Gustavo Menezes Stéphane Richelmi	Alpine A460	LMP2	357	5th	1st

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete European Le Mans Series results