Paul-Loup Chatin

Paul-Loup Chatin
Chatin in 2012
Nationality	French
Born	(1991-10-19) 19 October 1991 (age 33) Dourdan, France
ELMS – LMP2 career
Debut season	2014
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Former teams	Signatech Alpine, Panis Barthez Compeitition, IDEC Sport
Starts	53 (53 entries)
Wins	7
Poles	5
Fastest laps	2
Best finish	1st in 2014, 2019
Previous series
2013 2011–12 2011–12 2010	ELMS – LMPC Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps F4 Eurocup 1.6
Championship titles
2014, 2019 2013	ELMS – LMP2 ELMS – LMPC

Paul-Loup Chatin (born 19 October 1991) is a French professional racing driver. He has had notable successes within the LMP2 class, winning the European Le Mans Series in 2014 and 2019, as well as pole positions at the 2018 and 2023 iterations of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[1][2] Other achievements include a class victory at the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona and the LMP2 title in the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship.^[3][4]

He competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Alpine Endurance Team.^[5]

Born in Dourdan, Chatin began his karting career in 2006 at the age of 14, progressing to the KF2 category by 2008.^[6]

Chatin made his début in single-seaters in 2010, joining the F4 Eurocup 1.6 series. Chatin finished fourth in the championship, with two wins at Silverstone, behind his future Eurocup rivals Stoffel Vandoorne and Norman Nato.^[7]

In 2011, he graduated to the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series, with the Tech 1 Racing team.^[8] He finished ninth with a win on home soil at Le Castellet, and another podium finish, at Silverstone.^[9][10] He also had a full-time campaign in Formula Renault 2.0 Alps with the same team, collecting three consecutive victories at the Hungaroring and Le Castellet, finally finishing third in the championship.^[11]

For the 2012 season, Chatin remained in the Eurocup with Tech 1.^[12] He improved to sixth in the championship, but failed to achieve a victory during the campaign. He defended his third position in Formula Renault 2.0 Alps, losing the title fight to Daniil Kvyat and Nato.^[13]

In 2013, Chatin decided to switch to sports car racing, joining Team Endurance Challenge in the LMPC category of the European Le Mans Series.^[14] In a class with just two full-time entries, Chatin and teammate Gary Hirsch won the series title thanks to three wins at Imola, Spielberg and the Hungaroring.

For the 2014 season, the Frenchman moved to the LMP2 category, joining the Signatech Alpine squad alongside Nelson Panciatici and Oliver Webb. The team were victorious at Spielberg and scored another two podiums on their way to the championship title. Chatin and his teammates also contested the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where they finished third in the LMP2 category.

Remaining with Signatech Alpine, Chatin progressed to the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2015.^[15] In spite of retirements at Silverstone and Le Mans, the campaign proved to be a success, as the team finished second at Fuji and won at Shanghai on their way to fourth in the standings.

Chatin returned to the ELMS in 2016, partnering Timothé Buret and former French football goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.^[16] The team struggled despite Chatin's speed, proven by a fastest lap at Silverstone and a pole position in Imola, scoring a best result of seventh four times to finish eighth overall. The following year, Chatin made two appearances in the series, driving the final two races for IDEC Sport Racing.^[17]

2018 saw the beginning of the full-time partnership between Chatin and IDEC Sport, with the Frenchman being fielded in the ELMS alongside Memo Rojas and Paul Lafargue, the silver-ranked son of team owner Patrice Lafargue.^[18] Chatin led the outfit to a pair of third places, their first podiums in the series, as well as scoring the team's maiden pole positions at Le Castellet and Spielberg.^[19][20] These performances contributed to a third-placed finish at the end of the year. Additionally, Chatin and his teammates competed at Le Mans, where the Frenchman scored pole in qualifying.^[21]

Reunited with Lafargue, Rojas, and IDEC Sport for the 2019 season, Chatin would start the year off with two runner-up finishes, before taking a pole position at Barcelona.^[22] At round 4 in Silvertsone, the team benefited from a late fuel-related pit stop for rivals G-Drive Racing to take its first win in the ELMS.^[23] At the following round in Spa, a crash for Chatin at Raidillon during practice forced IDEC to miss qualifying, though thanks to the sourcing of a new chassis the team recovered to sixth on Sunday.^[24] Chatin redeemed himself during the season finale in Portugal, charging through to take the lead from Phil Hanson before holding on to win the race and, by extension, the championship.^[25]

The pandemic-affected 2020 campaign proved to be challenging for Chatin, who was joined by Lafargue as well as Richard Bradley for the year.^[26] The trio managed a highest finish of seventh place and ended the season ninth in the teams' championship, with Chatin missing a race after contracting COVID-19.^[27] In 2021, Chatin and Lafargue partnered Patrick Pilet in the ELMS.^[28] In a quiet season, IDEC Sport ended up ninth in the teams' standings. That year did not fail to yield success for Chatin however, as he won the 24 Hours of Daytona in class for Era Motorsport.^[29]

In 2022, the trio of French drivers remained at IDEC, which reverted to a one-car operation.^[30] During the first half of the season, Chatin and his teammates took three successive top 5 finishes, with the highlight being an imposing late stint by the French driver at Monza which brought victory back to the team.^[31] After this, the season brought disappointment, as IDEC fell back to fifth place by the end of the year.

Chatin remained in the ELMS for his sixth full season at IDEC Sport in 2023, partnering Lafargue and German LMP3 graduate Laurents Hörr.^[32] Though the squad failed to win a race, Chatin was able to lead IDEC to fifth in the standings with two LMP2 Pro class podiums and a pole position at the final event in Portimão. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans meanwhile, Chatin took LMP2 pole for the second time in his career, before putting the team in contention for a class podium — the chances of which were reduced to zero due to a late puncture.^[33] The 2023 season also saw Chatin compete in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports alongside gentleman driver Ben Keating.^[34] Joined by silver-ranked rookie Alex Quinn at the endurance events, the duo took four podiums from seven races, including a win at Road America, and clinched the LMP2 class title with a runner-up result at Petit Le Mans.^[35][36]

Ahead of the 2024 season, Chatin was announced to be joining the Alpine Endurance Team as a factory driver.^[37] As a result, he was chosen as one of the team's drivers in the Le Mans Hypercar category of the WEC, where he, Charles Milesi, and Ferdinand Habsburg would drive the No. 35 Alpine A424.^[38][39]

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

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

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

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

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

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2014	Signatech-Alpine	Oliver Webb Nelson Panciatici	Alpine A450b-Nissan	LMP2	355	7th	3rd
2015	Signatech-Alpine	Nelson Panciatici Vincent Capillaire	Alpine A450b-Nissan	LMP2	110	DNF	DNF
2016	Panis-Barthez Compétition	Fabien Barthez Timothé Buret	Ligier JS P2-Nissan	LMP2	347	12th	8th
2018	IDEC Sport	Paul Lafargue Memo Rojas	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	312	DNF	DNF
2019	IDEC Sport	Paul Lafargue Memo Rojas	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	364	10th	5th
2020	IDEC Sport	Paul Lafargue Richard Bradley	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	366	10th	6th
2021	IDEC Sport	Paul Lafargue Patrick Pilet	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	359	11th	6th
2022	IDEC Sport	Paul Lafargue Patrick Pilet	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	366	12th	8th
2023	IDEC Sport	Laurents Hörr Paul Lafargue	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	327	14th	6th
2024	Alpine Endurance Team	Ferdinand Habsburg Charles Milesi	Alpine A424	Hypercar	75	DNF	DNF

Year	Team	Car	Class	Award
2014	Signatech-Alpine	Alpine A450b-Nissan	LMP2	Prix Jean Rondeau
2013	Team Endurance Challenge	Oreca	ELMS-LMPC	Revelation of the Year 2013
2010	Autosport Academy	F4	F4 - 1.6L	1st Volant EuroFormula
2012	Tech1 Racing		WSR 2.0L	FFSA French Team
2011	Tech1 Racing		WSR 2.0L	FIA Young Driver Excellence Academy

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

^† Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship.

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2021	Era Motorsport	Ryan Dalziel Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	787	6th	1st

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

• Official website
• Paul-Loup Chatin career summary at DriverDB.com