Alexandre Prémat

Alexandre Prémat Alex Prémat at the Gold Coast 600 in 2016 Nationality French Born (1982-04-05) 5 April 1982 Juvisy-sur-Orge, France International V8 Supercars Championship career Debut season 2012 Current team DJR Team Penske Car no. 17 Former teams Garry Rogers Motorsport Triple Eight Race Engineering Starts 71 Wins 1 Poles 0 Fastest laps 0 Best finish 19th in 2013 Previous series 2008 2005–06 2005–06 2003–04 2002 2001–02 2000 Le Mans Series A1 Grand Prix GP2 Series Formula Three Euroseries FR2000 Eurocup French Formula Renault 2000 Formula Campus France Championship titles 2005–06 2002 A1 Grand Prix French Formula Renault 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans career Years 2007–2009, 2011 Teams Audi Sport Team Joest Best finish 4th (2008) Class wins 0

Alexandre Prémat (born 5 April 1982) is a multiple-championship winning French racing driver. He currently drives for DJR Team Penske^[1] as a co-driver alongside Scott McLaughlin in the Pirtek Enduro Cup series.

Prémat won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016.

Career

Prémat in the cockpit of an Audi R10 TDI en route to winning the 2008 Le Mans Series Drivers Championship.

Karting & French Formula Renault Campus

Born in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne, Prémat started his motorsport career in karting at the age of 10. In 1998 the French driver became champion in «Ile-de-France». In 2000 he finished as runner-up in 125cc ICC European Championship.

He continued karting until 2000 when he moved up to French Formula Campus, a common starting point for Formula drivers from France.

Formula Renault

He quickly moved up to French Formula Renault in 2001, and after familiarising himself with the series, won the title in 2002. In 2002 he also raced in part of the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup.

Formula Three

With the merger of several national Formula Three championships in 2003, Prémat moved to the resultant Formula Three Euroseries, driving for the ASM team with Olivier Pla, another driver who raced in the inaugural GP2 season. He stayed there for the 2004 season, also winning the prestigious Macau Grand Prix and Marlboro Masters non-championship races.

GP2 Series

Alex Premat in his Audi A4 DTM at Brands Hatch in July 2010

This earned him a drive in the 2005 GP2 Series, for ART Grand Prix, the team ran by Nicolas Todt. He was behind team-mate Nico Rosberg, but was the highest-place second driver in the championship. Alex remained, alongside the young British driver Lewis Hamilton for 2006, though he was overshadowed, as he finished third whilst Hamilton took the honours.

A1 Grand Prix

Prémat also drove the A1 Team France car in A1 Grand Prix in the 2005–06 season, he and team-mate Nicolas Lapierre winning the title for their nation. Alex did not return to the series for the following season, and the French team's form dropped noticeably.

Alex Premat Winner in A1 GP in Durban

Formula One

Prémat drove the third Spyker MF1 Racing car at the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix.^[2] He also had an off-season test with Champ Car team Mi-Jack Conquest Racing. Prémat had the quickest time in several sessions and stated that he was targeting a ride in Champ Cars for 2007.^[3] Another possibility was to drive in Formula One with Spyker, as one of their test drivers, but it did not work out.^[4]

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and Le Mans Series

Eventually he drove for Audi in the 2007 DTM series and participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, also with Audi. In 2008 Prémat again raced in DTM, and also the Le Mans Series with Audi. In 2009 French driver remained in this series and also participated in 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was fired by Audi before the final race of the 2010 season for running in the New York Marathon instead of recovering from a heavy crash at the previous round.^[5] In 2011 he won his class of the Nürburgring 24 Hour race in a Peugeot RCZ.

Supercars Championship

Shane Van Gisbergen and Alex Premat of Red Bull Racing Australia during the Castrol Gold Coast 600, at the Gold Coast Street Circuit, Gold Coast, Queensland, October 22, 2016.

In 2012, Prémat joined the Australia's leading touring car series, then known as V8 Supercars, driving a Holden VE Commodore for Garry Rogers Motorsport.^[6][7] After a disappointing first half of the season, where he struggled to adapt to the championship, he was rested for the 2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, with Greg Ritter taking his place. He returned to racing at the following round in Abu Dhabi,^[8] and went on to finish the season with a best result of thirteenth place at Symmons Plains Raceway. Prémat remained with the team in 2013, starting the season with fourth place in the 2013 Clipsal 500 Adelaide. Despite showing front-running pace, particularly at the start of the season, he failed to achieve consistent results due to poor qualifying and incidents during the races.

In January 2014, Prémat announced he was leaving the team in a full-time capacity,^[9] however he would return to the team, which were now competing in a Volvo S60, for the endurance events,^[10] placing 5th in the Enduro Cup with full-time driver Scott McLaughlin. Prémat once again joined McLaughlin in the 2015 Enduro Cup, with a best result of fifth at the 2015 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

For 2016, Triple Eight Race Engineering poached Prémat to partner with Shane van Gisbergen in the Enduro Cup. The pairing went on to win the 2016 Enduro Cup, including three second-place finishes and Prémat's first race victory in the championship at the 2016 Castrol Gold Coast 600.^[11]

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key)

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One participations

(key)

Complete DTM results

(key)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2007	Audi Sport Team Joest	Mike Rockenfeller Lucas Luhr	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	23	DNF	DNF
2008	Audi Sport Team Joest	Mike Rockenfeller Lucas Luhr	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	374	4th	4th
2009	Audi Sport Team Joest	Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas	Audi R15 TDI	LMP1	333	17th	13th
2011	Team Oreca-Matmut	David Hallyday Dominik Kraihamer	Oreca 03-Nissan	LMP2	200	DNF	DNF

Supercars Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	No.	Team	Car	Co-driver	Position	Laps
2012	33	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden VE Commodore	Jack Perkins	16th	161
2013	34	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden VF Commodore	Greg Ritter	23rd	154
2014	33	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Volvo S60	Scott McLaughlin	17th	150
2015	33	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Volvo S60	Scott McLaughlin	5th	161
2016	97	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden VF Commodore	Shane van Gisbergen	2nd	161

* Events highlighted in green denote designated co-driver role

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexandre Prémat.

• Interview on SBS radio alexandre premat on SBS Radio
• Official website alexandrepremat.com
• Career statistic driverdb.com

Midland F1 Racing
Founder Alex Shnaider Noted staff Colin Kolles James Key Drivers Christijan Albers Tiago Monteiro Test drivers Markus Winkelhock Giorgio Mondini Adrian Sutil Alexandre Prémat Ernesto Viso Roman Rusinov Max Biaggi Formula One car M16