Cool Racing have revealed that the driver line-up for their newly acquired Oreca 07 Gibson in the 2019 ELMS season will be Alexandre Coigny, Antonin Borga and three times Le Mans LMP2 winner Nicolas Lapierre.
“I am really happy to welcome someone like Nicolas Lapierre in our team” said Cool Racing team principal Patrick Barbier. “[…] He has a huge experience, he is very professional and he knows the Oreca 07 very well. I must admit that I was not anticipating the arrival of someone his caliber that early on in the team. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be a tremendous asset for the progress of our team and our drivers”
The former Toyota LMP1 works driver has raced with Dragonspeed in the European Le Mans Series since 2016 scoring one victory and four pole positions with the team.
He is also unbeaten in the class at Le Mans with wins for Signatech Alpine in 2016 and 2018, and in 2015 with KCMG.
“It’s a really interesting [new] challenge for me” said the Frenchman. “Cool Racing is progressing, season after season. My job is to ensure that we keep that trend in this very competitive LMP2 championship. Our program is interesting. The team and the drivers are willing to learn. What really motivates me is to support an entity which is short of experience in the LMP2 category. […] They are committing significant resources to this. We are starting our test programme as soon as next Monday. […] I am really excited to start this new challenge”.
Cool Racing intends to enter their Oreca 07 in the 2020 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Swiss team will remain in the Michelin Le Mans Cup next season with a three Ligier JSP3 effort managed by current Cool Racing driver Iradj Alexander . Nicolas Rondet and John Schauerman are announced as one of the three driver line-ups.
