Sinault Hoping to Secure Signatech’s Future by Le Mans

Photo: Bruno Vandevelde/MPS Agency

Signatech team principal Philippe Sinault says he hopes to secure his team’s future by next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in order to retain drivers and crew for a continued presence in the FIA World Endurance Championship but with another manufacturer or entity.

The French squad, which has been affiliated with Alpine since 2013 before the Renault-owned brand purchased a 49 percent stake in Sinault’s team, faces an unknown future amid the news that Alpine will withdraw from the WEC Hypercar class at the end of the season.

While a German media report had linked Chinese auto giant BYD to potentially purchasing Signatech and Alpine’s sports car assets for an entry into the world championship, Sinault revealed to Sportscar365 that he hasn’t had any discussions with BYD.

He said aside from its ongoing Hypercar program, guaranteeing his team’s future has been his “main concern.”

“At the moment there are a lot of rumors and they’re still rumors, to be honest,” Sinault told Sportscar365 at last weekend’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

“We talk about BYD and so on. [But] I never met one person from BYD.

“My main job is to prove to everybody that we have a good level of performance and we are able to do a good job.

“Now we are in blue and we still have a lot of thing to do in blue. After we will see.

“The main value of the team is the level of performance and the results.”

Sinault said he’s so far had “no strong discussions” with other OEMs or entities about a potential sale of the program, which would offer a race-winning, turn-key solution for a prospective brand looking to enter the WEC.

Sportscar365 understands that its entire package, including the ORECA-chassied LMDh cars and Alpine/Renault’s longtime engine facility in Viry-Chatillon, France, is being offered up as a package.

“If someone wants to talk to me directly, please give them my number,” said Sinault. “I would be so happy to talk to them.

“For sure, [the series] wants the Chinese brands. We have a lot of people with kindness around our project. Everyone wants us to survive.

“It’s great for us and we are deeply touched about it. But now it’s time to deliver.

“We are in a way to contact some of them, to be clear, with the support also of Alpine and Viry-Chatillon because it’s a common future.

“We will start to work out now to contact them and to have something to say to you at Le Mans.”

Sinault said he would likely need to have a solution in place by next month in order to be able to retain the majority of its structure for next year.

Any talk of taking a year off, he said, would nearly certainly result in its staff and drivers departing for other programs.

“It’s difficult to say,” he said of a deadline to secure its future. “For sure you have Le Mans. After Le Mans, it will be more stressful for me to consider the future if I have nothing strong.

“But so far there’s been no strong discussions, just nice [discussions]. Now it’s time to go deeply in the project and start to consider to 2027. We talk about 2027.”

Alpine Endurance Team sporting director Nico Lapierre, while not involved in the direct discussions, said he’s hopeful that the project can continue with another brand, given the success they’ve achieved with the package that debuted in 2024.

“I know there are talks and hopefully it can go somewhere,” he told Sportscar365. “This car is a good package. The team proved to get more mature every year and able to be there in the top group of this class.

“It would be a shame to stop it next year. If we could use it for something, it would for sure be great.”

Lapierre: Team “Focused” on Achieving Milestone Result at Le Mans

The Frenchman said the mood within the team remains high, especially heading into next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Alpine is seeking to become the first French manufacturer to win the race in 17 years.

“At the minute I’m very pleased and proud of the team because we are fully focused on what we are doing now with the development in the winter,” said Lapierre.

“All the team is really focused on Le Mans, honestly.

“I have absolutely no doubt that until Le Mans the whole team will push like hell in order to do the best as we can with the package we have.

“After Le Mans, maybe it’s going to be a little different. I don’t know. I hope not. I hope we can stay focused until the end of the year.

“But there is a little question mark for after Le Mans. It’s going to be hard to think about next year when there is [currently no certainty for] next year.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John