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Matthieu Vaxivière
French racing driver (born 1994) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Matthieu Vaxivière (born 3 December 1994) is a French racing driver from Limoges. He has been a factory driver for the Alpine brand since 2021, as part of which he has competed in the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Vaxivière is also renowned for his prowess in the LMP2 category; he has scored two class podiums at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and won the Pro-Am title of the European Le Mans Series with AF Corse in 2023 and 2024.[1][2]
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Career
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Karting
Vaxivière started his racing career in 2005 in the Karting Championship of France.
Car racing debut
Having made his car racing debut in the MitJet Series in 2010, Vaxivière progressed to the French F4 Championship the subsequent year.[3] A successful campaign followed, as he took the title by winning three races, which included a double victory at Pau.[4]
Formula Renault 2.0
Vaxiviere entered his debut season of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 in 2012 with Tech 1 Racing, which he finished in 29th position with a single point.[5] The Frenchman experienced a more fruitful year in 2013, ending up tenth overall with a pair of victories at Aragón proving to be the highlight of the season.[6]
Formula Renault 3.5
After his two seasons in the Eurocup, Vaxivière graduated to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for the 2014 season, driving for Lotus alongside Marlon Stöckinger.[7] He finished eighth overall despite missing two rounds due to an injury.[8]
Vaxivière returned to Lotus for the 2015 season.[9] Three wins and a heap of podiums made the French driver vice-champion.
For the first season of the newly rebranded Formula V8 3.5 Series, Vaxivière would partner Matevos Isaakyan at SMP Racing.[10] This season, the Frenchman amassed seven podiums, two of which were wins, and took home fourth place in the standings.
Lotus F1
After completing several post-season tests with both Pons Racing and Lotus in preparation for 2014, the Frenchman was announced by Lotus to drive with them in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series alongside Filipino-Swiss rookie Marlon Stöckinger.
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Sportscar debut
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Having competed in various endurance events such as the GT3 Le Mans Cup throughout his time in junior formulae,[11] Vaxivière made his full-time transition into sportscar racing near the end of 2016, when he partnered Michele Rugolo and Stéphane Lémeret in the GT category of the Asian Le Mans Series from round two onwards.[12] He helped DH Racing to finish second in the championship, having taken victory at the Fuji Speedway.[13]
Vaxivière's main campaign in 2017 would lie in the LMP2 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, which he contested with TDS Racing.[14] Having taken a podium on debut at Silverstone, the Frenchman finished 16th in the drivers' standings.[15]
2018 would start out positively for Vaxivière, who finished second in the first two races of the European Le Mans Series with TDS before embarking on a season in the WEC with the French team.[16][17][18] A podium during the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans would prove to be the highlight of his season, which Vaxivière finished eighth overall.[19]
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 saw Vaxivière compete in a myriad of championships, including the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup or the Mitjet International series, where the Frenchman took four wins from as many appearances.[20][21] That year also yielded another podium at Le Mans, Vaxivière driving for Panis Racing alongside Nico Jamin and Julien Canal.[22]
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Alpine works driver
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2021: Hypercar debut
For the 2021 season, Vaxivière teamed up with Nicolas Lapierre and André Negrão to drive an Alpine A480 in the Hypercar category of the FIA World Endurance Championship.[23] The campaign began on a promising note, as the team finished second at Spa-Francorchamps before Vaxivière followed that up by taking a pole position at the Algarve Round.[24][25][26] The outfit stabilized their pace after another second place in Monza, with them taking third for the remaining rounds, Vaxivière and his teammates being unable to match the pace of the Toyota Gazoo Racing squad.[27]
2022: WEC title challenge
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Nevertheless, Vaxivière, Lapierre and Negrão returned to Alpine in 2022.[28] At the season opener in Sebring, the Frenchman put on a particularly impressive showing, setting the fastest lap and helping his team to their first victory in the Hypercar category.[29][30] Vaxivière and his partners took second at Spa before finishing a disappointing fourth in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as issues with the car's clutch control and ignition coil systems respectively put the team out of contention for the podium.[31] They bounced back emphatically in Monza, where, having made contact in a hard-fought battle with the Toyota of Kamui Kobayashi, Vaxivière scored another win.[32] However, this would end up being the team's final finish ahead of their rivals Toyota, with a power reduction for the final two races thanks to the BoP mechanism leading to Alpine finishing second in the overall standings.[33][34]
2023: LMP2 return & Pro-Am title
Vaxivière and Alpine stepped down to the LMP2 category for the 2023 season, where the French driver partnered Charles Milesi and Julien Canal.[35][36] The team would finish the season seventh overall with a podium at Monza.[37]
In addition, he paired up with François Perrodo and Ben Barnicoat to race in the Pro-Am Cup of the European Le Mans Series that same year.[38] After starting the campaign with two class podiums, Vaxivière helped AF Corse towards its first Pro-Am win of the season at Aragón, where he passed title rival Louis Delétraz for the lead with half an hour to go.[39] The same pair once again battled hard for position at Spa-Francorchamps, where Vaxivière once again came out on top, thus securing fourth in class.[40] Third at the first Portugal race was followed by a victory at the season-ending 4 Hours of Portimão, where late defensive driving from Barnicoat against Malthe Jakobsen proved decisive in securing the Pro-Am title for Vaxivière and Perrodo.[41][42]
2024: Alpine Hypercar & back-to-back ELMS titles
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With the LMP2 category being dropped from the WEC for the 2024 season,[43] Vaxivière would continue driving for Alpine in their new Hypercar, the A424, alongside Nicholas Lapierre and Mick Schumacher.[44] The season, featuring four new manufacturers in the Hypercar class (BMW, Lamborghini, Isotta Fraschini, and Alpine themselves), would begin well for the Alpine team in the first round in Qatar, placing best of the four Hypercar debutants, with Vaxivière's car finishing 11th out of 19 in class.[45][46] At the following round in Imola, Vaxivière was involved in a first-lap collision, which necessitated two laps of car repairs.[47] Following an anonymous Spa event, the #36 Alpine retired from the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a driveshaft problem.[48] Finally, Vaxivière and his teammates scored the entry's first point at São Paulo and, despite struggling during the opening stint owing to the choice of hard rear tyres, followed that up with ninth place at Austin.[49] A further breakthrough came in Japan, where overtakes by Schumacher secured the team's maiden Hypercar podium with third place.[50] The season ended with ninth place at Bahrain.[51]
Vaxivière continued racing in LMP2 with AF Corse in 2024. Having contested the 2023–24 Asian Le Mans Series during the winter and gotten a best result of second twice, Vaxivière paired up with Perrodo and two-time substitute of 2023, Alessio Rovera, to defend the Pro-Am title in the ELMS.[52][53][54] A strong pit strategy allowed the trio to start the season with a win at Barcelona, though the next race saw Vaxivière drop to fourth during the final stint due to high tyre wear.[55][56] Second at Imola preceded a commanding class victory at Spa, which earned the #83 crew a 20-point lead going into the Mugello event.[57][58] Their lead would be diminished however, as Rovera collided with a GT entry and got the car stranded in the gravel; they ended up seventh in the race.[59] With a four-way title fight coming to a head in Portimão, it was drama on the final lap that decided the championship in AF Corse's favour: the leading Algarve Pro Racing entry ran out of fuel on the final lap and was passed by Bent Viscaal's Proton Competition car, thereby letting Vaxivière claim the title with fourth place at the flag.[60][61]
2025
During the winter, Vaxivière once again raced in the Asian Le Mans Series at AF Corse.[62] With three podiums, including a win at the second Abu Dhabi race where Vaxivière overtook Nicky Catsburg in the closing laps, he, Rovera, and Perrodo finished third in the standings.[63][64][65] In the meantime, the Frenchman was demoted to reserve driver duties at Alpine for the 2025 WEC Season.[66] This meant that he would concentrate on racing in the ELMS, entering with an unchanged lineup and in view of a third successive Pro-Am crown.[67]
Barcelona provided Vaxivière with a standout performance in the season's first race: after taking the lead of the Pro-Am category early on in his first stint, Vaxivière made a triple overtake on Reshad de Gerus, Pietro Fittipaldi, and Théo Pourchaire with 50 minutes left. Soon after, he would pass Charles Milesi for third overall before jumping ahead of Pipo Derani on a FCY restart. He caught leader Mathys Jaubert with 25 minutes to go, though a pit stop for fresher tyres and a subsequent safety car left Vaxivière in fourth with two remaining racing laps. In those, he overtook Fittipaldi, Milesi, and Jaubert to take victory, the second overall win for a Pro-Am car in the history of the series.[68][69][70]
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Racing record
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Racing career summary
† As Vaxivière was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. * Season still in progress.
Complete French F4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
† As Vaxivière was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points
Complete Formula V8 3.5 Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
Complete European Le Mans Series results
* Season still in progress.
Complete Asian Le Mans Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete GP3 Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
† Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship. * Season still in progress.
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References
External links
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