Clio Cup, Alpine Europa Cup and GT4: Alpine launches its sector towards GT

A new path to GT. For the 2024 season, Alpine has decided to reorganize its single-make competitions – namely theAlpine Europa Cup and the Clio Cup – in order to create a link between each of them and launch its own “channel” towards the Grand Touring championships. "TheAlpine Europa Cup and the Clio Cup were two separate worlds, Explain Patrick Sinault, general manager ofAlpine Europa Cup. On the one hand, the Clio Cup had a real autonomous community, and on the other, theAlpine Europa Cup was a European competition since 2018 and could take young people to the world of GT. When Bruno Famin arrived at the head ofAlpine Motorsport, he immediately asked us to think about a rapprochement between the two disciplines to create a universe Alpine Racing. »

Concretely, the two single-make disciplines – organized with the Signature Group – will be brought together on six occasions in 2024, with shared meetings and a common paddock. The Clio Cup Series is transformed into a continental format with nine European rounds (including three in France), with national rankings (France, Italy, Spain and Central Europe) and a European ranking. Entrance price: €45 for five national events.

Bonuses to move to the next level

In addition to this rapprochement between the two championships, a pyramid system with special bonuses will appear between the two championships. Thus, the winner of the Clio Cup Europe will have the choice: either obtain the Clio Cup traditionally offered to the champion, or finance half of a season in Alpine Europa Cup for the following year, which represents three complete turnkey races with tires and insurance.

Same diagram for the floor above, in Alpine Europa Cup: the winner of the championship receives a grant of €40 to partly finance a seat in GT000 on a Alpine A110 GT4, with a team of your choice. “The perfect example is Lorens Lecertua (winner of theAlpine Europa Cup in 2023, Editor’s note.) who will engage in France and Europe with a Alpine from the Chazel Technologie Course stable, underlines Patrick Sinault. These €40, combined with the €000 received in the Junior category, will allow him to partly finance a GT15 seat which is worth around €000. »

A truly " Alpine GT4 Academy »

From the Clio Cup to GT4: a logical progression which had been lost over time, both in sporting and financial terms. “We are trying to return to a principle: allowing young people to access motorsport with a reasonable budget, adds le general manager of theAlpine Europa Cup. With Bruno Famin's desire to create one and the same family, we will, in the long term, arrive at this logic. A driver will be able to start in the group Renault and try to make a career starting from the Clio Cup. Before, there were 15 races in the championship, it was à la carte. The more a driver rode, the more chance he had of becoming champion, but for that, you had to spend more than €100! With this new format, there will be more meaning. Pilots will be able to tell a real story to their partners. »

This “GT4 Academy” will also be supported by the centers Alpine open in mainland France, whose mission is to partly help local pilots. This new sector created by Alpine must aim to be a real launching pad towards GT and above all, towards professionalization.

More information available on the site of theAlpine Europe Cup et on the Clio Cup website.

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