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Alpine will return to Le Mans after 35 years!


Last year, Renault announced they were going to revive the Alpine brand, but the first model will only arrive in 2016. To keep the Alpine name on the spotlight, Renault planned several things. The first was the entry of five A110 berlinettes for last January’s Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. The next one will be the return to endurance racing in the 2013 Le Mans.

Besides taking place at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours, which takes place on June 22 and 23, the French brand will also compete with one Alpine prototype in the competitive 2013 European Le Mans Series endurance racing championship (ELMS).

This is even more important since Alpine participated 11 times in the Le Mans 24 Hours between 1963 and 1978, having seven class wins, and more important, one outright victory in 1978 with the Alpine A442B prototype driven by Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussau.

Besides Michelin and Total, Alpine also joined forces with Signatech. This team will enter an Alpine LM P2 prototype with a 507PS (500hp or 373kW) Nissan engine in five races of the ELMS, starting with the opening event at the Silverstone Circuit in England, taking place from April 13.