Alpine Reveals 2017 World Endurance Championship Race Challenger

Alpine A470, the brand's new LMP2 racing prototype that's set to take on the second-tier class of the FIA 2017 World Endurance Championship. The new Alpine A470 will have huge responsibilities to fill since the Signatech Alpine team won both the drivers' and teams' titles in last year's championship as well as its class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

As per the new regulations, only four chassis constructors and one engine supplier form the foundation for every car on the LMP2 grid.

Alpine has already been working with Oreca (one of the four approved suppliers), so the new A470 - like the A460 and A450 - further increases on the same building blocks. However this time around, instead of Nissan's 4.5, power is provided by Gibson Technology's 4.0-litre naturally aspirated V8, rated at 600bhp.

Driver lineup for Alpine's A470 include Gustavo Menezes, who is returning to the team, Stephane Richelmi has been replaced by Matt Rao, and Nicolas Lapierre will return to the Alpine team for all except for the races at Spa and Le Mans.

The second car will be shared by Nelson Panciatici, Pierre Ragues, and André Negrão. Both cars will make their debut in the pre-season test at Monza this weekend before the season begins with the 6 Hours of Silverstone on April 16, 2017.