Dumarey Acquires Alpine Viry-Chatillon Engine Facility

Alpine Racing SAS, the company that operates the long-running Renault engine facility at Viry-Chatillon, is set to be acquired by Belgian powertrain specialist Dumarey.

The Viry facility is where the powertrains for the Alpine A424 FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar have been produced but the site faced an uncertain future following the announcement of the French manufacturer leaving the series at the end of the current season.

Prospective buyers for the Signatech-run Alpine WEC team were allegedly offered the Viry facility as part of the deal, but it is not known if the Dumarey purchase has any impact upon the on-going talks to keep the A424s on the WEC grid.

The French manufacturing site used to produce the engines for the Alpine Formula 1 team prior to the brand’s decision to no longer build its own F1 motors and instead begin a customer partnership with Mercedes.

The Dumarey deal is set to involve the “tangible and intangible assets” required to operate the Viry site, including all personnel, and is part of the Belgian company’s decision to expand its motorsport presence.

It is not yet known in what disciplines of motorsport the Viry site would now be involved in but a Dumarey statement spoke of the desire to “leverage their Formula 1 engine expertise for racing teams in the future.”

Dumarey chairman Guido Dumarey added: “The Viry-Chatillon site has built a strong reputation for advanced engineering and innovation.

“We see considerable potential in combining its highly skilled teams and technical capabilities with Dumarey’s entrepreneurial culture and diversified industrial footprint.

“Our ambition is to preserve and further develop this exceptional engineering expertise while creating new opportunities for growth.”

Alpine Tech vice-president Axel Plasse added: “This transaction represents a strong and coherent opportunity to secure and further develop the expertise of the Viry-Chatillon site.

“It opens up new prospects for employees and for the engineering business. This development is a recognition of the site’s longstanding motorsport expertise, particularly in Formula 1.”