Gounon Coy on Full-Time Alpine Promotion Chances

Jules Gounon insists that a promotion to Alpine’s full-time FIA World Endurance Championship race program is not currently being discussed, despite the Andorra-flagged driver being brought back into the French marque’s lineup for this weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji.

As part of an agreement made before the start of the season, Gounon is replacing Paul-Loup Chatin on a one-off basis in Japan, taking over Chatin’s regular drive in the No. 35 Alpine A424 alongside Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi.

Gounon already gained race experience when he stood in for an injured Habsburg earlier this year at Imola and Spa, making the Fuji race his third outing with the French marque.

His return to the cockpit comes against the backdrop of Nicolas Lapierre actively considering retirement in favor of a management role within Alpine at the end of 2024.

“I don’t think I need to show something because it was already agreed [I would do a race] and so on,” Gounon told Sportscar365 pre-race at Fuji.

“Who would say no to driving in Hypercar for Alpine? But at the moment it’s not the question. We are not in talks regarding that.

“I am just here trying to do my job. The future will tell what’s going on, but at the moment, it’s not the subject of talks.”

Should Gounon be promoted to a race drive with Alpine, it would be dovetailed with his commitments with Mercedes-AMG, for which he has been a factory driver since 2021.

“My current contract with AMG expires at the end of 2025,” clarified Gounon. “So the one thing that is for sure is I will definitely do some GT racing next year.”

A precedent for Gounon missing certain events in his GT schedule in favor of racing in the WEC for Alpine was already established earlier in the year, as the Imola and Spa rounds that he contested clashed with Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS events at Sepang and Buriram, respectively.

“It was very nice of Mercedes-AMG to let me race at Imola and Spa, which were clashing with commitments in GT World Challenge Asia,” said Gounon. “It was nice to see Alpine and AMG working together to allow me to fulfill my commitments.

“We will see what happens, but in the end AMG was very nice to let me go. It’s not often they do that for a driver, so they have big confidence and trust in me.”

Alpine team principal Philippe Sinault said he was relaxed about the prospect of Lapierre retiring at the end of the year, although he   hopes to have a decision from the French veteran by the time of the Bahrain season finale.

“If Nico wants to continue, for sure he is welcome to continue,” Sinault told Sportscar365. “If not, we will consider some other options. 

“Nothing is defined yet. We have some wishes as you can imagine, and we try to combine that as best as possible for the level of performance on the car.”

Alpine Would Be “Disappointed” To Lose Schumacher

As well as Lapierre, the other two drivers of the No. 36 Alpine, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere, are uncertain to remain with the team next year.

Schumacher had been considered a candidate for a move to Alpine’s Formula 1 outfit, but ultimately lost out on the seat vacated by Esteban Ocon to Jack Doohan.

With his chances of being back on the F1 grid in 2025 now almost zero, Schumacher has been linked with a possible move to the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P in WEC.

Asked specifically about Schumacher’s situation, Sinault made it clear he hoped the German driver would stay but admitted to a high degree of uncertainty about his future.

“It’s not in my hands,” said Sinault. “I would like [that he stays] for sure. But it depends on so many things outside of WEC and Signatech. 

“At Austin, I detected some disappointment [about missing out on an F1 drive]. Not only about Alpine, but the global situation in F1. But he is so professional, and in the car, I couldn’t notice anything different. Everything stayed the same.

“I will be disappointed [if he leaves] because he has done well and he has helped the team to improve its level. We really hope we can continue with him 100 percent.

“We are ready to wait a little bit, but not too long.”