Renault’s new Alpine racing division will enter the WEC and compete at Le Mans

PARIS — Renault’s new sports activities division Alpine will enter the 2021 Planet Endurance Championship, a series whose jewel in the crown is the Le Mans 24 Hours, the brand’s common manager said on Monday.

Decline-generating Renault’s new chief government, Luca de Meo, sees Alpine as central to the carmaker’s restoration and this month announced Renault’s Formulation A single crew will be rebranded as Alpine following calendar year.

The car will be designed around an Oreca chassis and Gibson engine in the LMP1 category, said Alpine common manager Patrick Marinoff.

Alpine will line up in the LMP1 following calendar year with the Signatech crew. Alpine are competing in this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours in the LMP2 category, also with Signatech

“The timing is just correct now for Alpine to go up in LMP1. Renault has apparent, potent ambitions to position it as the sports activities model of the group, and therefore it helps make feeling to raise the bandwidth of Alpine,” Marinoff said all through a convention connect with with reporters.

Alpine said in a assertion on Monday that “probable synergies with the F1 crew are being examined.”

In the meantime, Reuters reported past week that de Meo had penned in an inner memo that Renault might have to minimize additional prices than initially prepared to get out of the pink.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated complications which include a downward trajectory in earnings considering that 2018, the carmaker’s capability to create hard cash, and new models that were not financially rewarding enough.

In his inner memo, de Meo said he required to broaden the Alpine’s range of vehicles past the A110, following Porsche’s model. A source near to Renault said de Meo required to quickly introduce a semi-convertible version of the A110.