WEC: Alpine-Geely deal in doubt, A424 at risk for 2027

The rescue of Alpine's Hypercar programme in the WEC is reportedly in trouble. According to Motorsport.com and its German edition, the takeover by Chinese group Geely, which was meant to keep the Alpine A424 racing in 2027, "appears to have fallen through". The news emerged in the European Le Mans Series paddock at Portimão and was first reported by Italian-Endurance. Neither Renault/Alpine nor Geely has officially confirmed the talks.

A programme Renault is shutting down

Renault Group's new CEO decided to end Alpine's WEC programme after the 2026 season. Philippe Sinault, founder of Signatech, the team that runs the cars in the World Endurance Championship, has fought to save the operation. Signatech has experience in LMP2 and LMP1.

Several Chinese options were floated:

• BYD was the first candidate mentioned and had a stand in the fan village at the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours
• Geely became the more concrete option: the Hangzhou-based group already works with Renault on production cars, notably in Latin America
• Geely delegates visited Alpine's sites at Viry-Châtillon and Bourges

The plan was to rebrand the cars in Geely colours and build on Signatech's work.

An unexpected turn

The articles give no specific reason for the failure. They stress that events behind the scenes reportedly took a very different turn from Philippe Sinault's recent comments. At Fuji, he told Motorsport.com that the situation was under control and progressing well.

What it means for 2027

• The deadline to enter the 2027 WEC is 26 November
• If the failure is confirmed, the A424, an Oreca-chassis LMDh, would be virtually absent from the 2027 grid
• One option is to skip 2027 and prepare a Geely entry for 2028, but that route is uncertain too
• Signatech could shut down after the finale at Monza on 8 November

For now this is paddock talk, unconfirmed by the parties involved. We will follow any official announcement from Alpine, Signatech or Geely before the entry deadline.

The calendar is tight: the Monza finale on 8 November comes less than three weeks before the 26 November entry deadline. For Alpine and Signatech that leaves very little time to find a solution, whether with Geely, BYD or another partner, or to announce a withdrawal.