This Is Excellent
Renault has a new sports division Alpine and it will enter the 2021 World Endurance Championship. The racing series is a true test, and it will be awesome to see the company compete in the 24 Hours of LeMans. According to Autoblog, the brand’s general manage made the announcement on September 14.
The publication also said that Luca de Meo, the CEO, sees Alpine as an important initiative for the automaker make a full recovery and become a true force in the motoring world. This month he also announced Renault’s Formula One team will be rebranded as Alpine.
The car for the WEC will be built around an Oreca chassis and a Gibson engine. It will compete in the LMP1 category. “The timing is just right now for Alpine to move up in LMP1. Renault has clear, strong ambitions to position it as the sports brand of the group, and therefore it makes sense to raise the bandwidth of Alpine,” said Alpine General Manager Patrick Marinoff.
Off the racetrack, it seems Alpine will be expanding its lineup. COVID-19 has caused some issues with the brand, sending it in a downward trajectory, which was already not going well. Meo said in an internal memo that he wanted to see more vehicles in Alpine’s range, including a convertible. The company wants to follow Porsche’s model, according to Autoblog. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future for this brand. I’d love to see more Alpine models in the future and see the company do well in WEC racing.
