Alexandre Prémat
Alexandre Prémat is a multiple-championship winning French racing driver. In 2020, he will co-drive for Tickford Racing in the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
Prémat won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016. He also won the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin, driving for DJR Team Penske.
Career
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
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.Formula One
Prémat drove the third Spyker MF1 Racing car at the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix. 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. Another possibility was to drive in Formula One with Spyker, as one of their test drivers, but it did not work out.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. In 2011 he won his class of the Nürburgring 24 Hour race in a Peugeot RCZ.Supercars Championship
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. 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, 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, however he would return to the team, which were now competing in a Volvo S60, for the endurance events, 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.
Racing record
Career summary
Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Pts |
| 2003 | ASM | Dallara F303/015 | HWA-Mercedes | HOC 1 DSQ | HOC 2 24 | ADR 1 7 | ADR 2 5 | PAU 1 22 | PAU 2 Ret | NOR 1 Ret | NOR 2 1 | LMS 1 5 | LMS 2 23 | NÜR 1 5 | NÜR 2 11 | A1R 1 2 | A1R 2 2 | ZAN 1 Ret | ZAN 2 5 | HOC 1 9 | HOC 2 Ret | MAG 1 Ret | MAG 2 5 | 7th | 50 |
| 2004 | ASM | Dallara F303/015 | HWA-Mercedes | HOC 1 2 | HOC 2 3 | EST 1 1 | EST 2 8 | ADR 1 8 | ADR 1 Ret | PAU 1 DSQ | PAU 2 DSQ | NOR 1 18 | NOR 1 Ret | MAG 1 1 | MAG 2 Ret | NÜR 1 6 | NÜR 2 5 | ZAN 1 5 | ZAN 2 3 | BRN 1 2 | BRN 2 2 | HOC 1 18 | HOC 2 4 | 2nd | 88 |
Complete A1 Grand Prix results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | DC | Points |
| 2005–06 | France | GBR SPR 2 | GBR FEA DNS | GER SPR | GER FEA | POR SPR 1 | POR FEA 1 | AUS SPR | AUS FEA | MYS SPR 1 | MYS FEA 1 | UAE SPR | UAE FEA | RSA SPR 1 | RSA FEA 8 | IDN SPR | IDN FEA | MEX SPR 1 | MEX FEA 1 | USA SPR | USA FEA | CHN SPR 7 | CHN FEA | 1st | 172 |
Complete GP2 Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | DC | Points |
| 2005 | ART Grand Prix | IMO FEA 7 | IMO SPR 2 | CAT FEA 10 | CAT SPR Ret | MON FEA Ret | NÜR FEA 4 | NÜR SPR Ret | MAG FEA 9 | MAG SPR Ret | SIL FEA 3 | SIL SPR 5 | HOC FEA 2 | HOC SPR 9 | HUN FEA 4 | HUN SPR 1 | IST FEA 1 | IST SPR 14 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR 18 | SPA FEA Ret | SPA SPR 12 | BHR FEA 2 | BHR SPR 3 | 4th | 67 |
| 2006 | ART Grand Prix | VAL FEA 9 | VAL SPR Ret | IMO FEA 4 | IMO SPR Ret | NÜR FEA 2 | NÜR SPR 17 | CAT FEA 1 | CAT SPR 3 | MON FEA 3 | SIL FEA 6 | SIL SPR Ret | MAG FEA 2 | MAG SPR 3 | HOC FEA 19 | HOC SPR Ret | HUN FEA 6 | HUN SPR 3 | IST FEA 3 | IST SPR 7 | MNZ FEA 5 | MNZ SPR Ret | 3rd | 66 |
Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pts | |
| 2007 | Team Phoenix | Audi A4 DTM 2006 | HOC Ret | OSC | LAU Ret | BRH 7 | NOR 8 | MUG 7 | ZAN 2 | NÜR 9 | CAT 10 | HOC 16 | 11th | 13 | |
| 2008 | Team Phoenix | Audi A4 DTM 2007 | HOC 11 | OSC 9 | MUG 8 | LAU DSQ | NOR 14 | ZAN Ret | NÜR 14 | BRH 10 | CAT 6 | BUG 3 | HOC 13 | 10th | 10 |
| 2009 | Team Phoenix | Audi A4 DTM 2008 | HOC Ret | LAU Ret | NOR Ret | ZAN DSQ | OSC Ret | NÜR Ret | BRH 11 | CAT 8 | DIJ 11 | HOC 4 | 13th | 6 | |
| 2010 | Team Phoenix | Audi A4 DTM 2008 | HOC 10 | VAL 3 | LAU Ret | NOR 7 | NÜR Ret | ZAN 11 | BRH 8 | OSC 6 | HOC Ret | ADR Ret | SHA | 11th | 12 |