Luc Alphand
# Luc Alphand

Luc Alphand (born 6 August 1965) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from France. He specialized in the speed events and later became a race car driver.

## Ski racing

Born in Briançon (Hautes-Alpes), Alphand was world junior champion in 1983 and made his World Cup debut in 1984. It took a decade for him to make his breakthrough winning his first world cup at Kitzbühel 1995, and going on to take the overall downhill title 3 years in a row. In 1997 he won the World Cup overall title by collecting points only in the two speed disciplines, downhill and super G – a unique achievement in World Cup history. For this accomplishment he was voted L'Equipe Champion of Champions in 1997. The previous year he won a bronze medal at the 1996 World Championships at Sierra Nevada, Spain.

In the village of Chantemerle (which neighbours his home town of Briançon in the Serre-Chevalier region) an expert ski run has been named in his honour.

His daughter, Estelle Alphand, represents Sweden in FIS Alpine Ski World Cup.

### World Cup results

**Season standings**

| Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant Slalom | Super G | Downhill | Combined |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1988 | 22 | 61 | — | — | 16 | 37 | — |
| 1989 | 23 | 40 | — | — | 10 | — | — |
| 1990 | 24 | 80 | — | — | 21 | — | — |
| 1991 | 25 | 35 | — | — | 10 | 17 | — |
| 1992 | 26 | 53 | — | — | 19 | 25 | — |
| 1993 | 27 | 59 | — | — | 20 | 40 | 23 |
| 1994 | 28 | 27 | — | — | 17 | 14 | — |
| 1995 | 29 | 8 | — | — | 14 | 1 | 11 |
| 1996 | 30 | 4 | — | — | 4 | 1 | — |
| 1997 | 31 | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 | — |

**Season titles**

| Season | Discipline |
| - | - |
| 1995 | Downhill |
| 1996 | Downhill |
| 1997 | Overall |
| 1997 | Downhill |
| 1997 | Super G |

**Race victories**

* 12 wins (10 DH, 2 SG)
* 23 podiums (18 DH, 5 SG)

| Season | Date | Location | Discipline |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1995 | 13 Jan 1995 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Downhill |
| 1995 | 14 Jan 1995 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Downhill |
| 1995 | 15 Mar 1995 | Bormio, Italy | Downhill |
| 1996 | 1 Dec 1995 | Vail, USA | Downhill |
| 1996 | 9 Dec 1995 | Val-d'Isère, France | Downhill |
| 1996 | 2 Feb 1996 | Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany | Downhill |
| 1997 | 20 Dec 1996 | Val Gardena, Italy | Downhill |
| 1997 | 29 Dec 1996 | Bormio, Italy | Downhill |
| 1997 | 24 Jan 1997 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Downhill |
| 1997 | 29 Jan 1997 | Laax, Switzerland | Super-G |
| 1997 | 21 Feb 1997 | Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany | Super-G |
| 1997 | 22 Feb 1997 | Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany | Downhill |

### Other results

* Junior World Champion of the downhill in 1983
* French Alpine Skiing Championship
   * Champion of the downhill in 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1994
   * Champion of the super-G in 1988
   * Champion of combined in 1987

## Auto racing

He retired from competitive skiing in 1997 and started a career in auto racing. First in the Nissan Micra Stars Cup (1997–1998), then in the European Le Mans Series (2001), the FIA GT Championship (2002), and the Lamborghini Supertrophy (2002). He won the 2006 Dakar Rally, in which he had finished runner-up a year earlier. With this victory, he was the first ex-skier to win the Paris-Dakar. He recently purchased two Corvette race cars from Pratt & Miller for use in the Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Alphand suffered severe back injuries in an accident on the Rand'Auvergne all-terrain motorcycle race on 27 June 2009. In November 2010 he retired from competitive auto racing due to health reasons.

### 24 Hours of Le Mans results

| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2001 | Warm-Up Luc Alphand Aventures JMB Racing | Michel Ligonnet Luis Marques | Porsche 911 GT3-RS | GT | 265 | 17th | 8th |
| 2002 | Luc Alphand Aventures | Christian Lavieille Olivier Thévenin | Porsche 911 GT3-RS | GT | 299 | 24th | 5th |
| 2003 | Luc Alphand Aventures | Jérôme Policand Frédéric Dor | Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello | GTS | 298 | 21st | 5th |
| 2004 | Luc Alphand Aventures | Christian Lavieille Philippe Almeras | Porsche 911 GT3-RS | GT | 316 | 16th | 5th |
| 2005 | Luc Alphand Aventures | Jérôme Policand Christopher Campbell | Porsche 911 GT3-RS | GT2 | 311 | 18th | 5th |
| 2006 | Luc Alphand Aventures | Patrice Goueslard Jérôme Policand | Chevrolet Corvette C5-R | GT1 | 346 | 7th | 3rd |
| 2007 | Luc Alphand Aventures | Patrice Goueslard Jérôme Policand | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | GT1 | 327 | 12th | 7th |
| 2008 | Luc Alphand Aventures | Guillaume Moreau Jérôme Policand | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | GT1 | 335 | 17th | 5th |
| 2009 | Luc Alphand Aventures | Stéphan Grégoire Patrice Goueslard | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | GT1 | 99 | DNF | DNF |

### Dakar Rally results

| Year | Class | Vehicle | Position | Stages won |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1998 | Car | Mitsubishi | DNF | 0 |
| 1999 | Car | Mitsubishi | 16th | 0 |
| 2000 | Car | Schlesser-Renault | DNF | 0 |
| 2001 | Car | Schlesser-Renault | DNF | 0 |
| 2002 | Car | Mitsubishi | 7th | 0 |
| 2003 | Car | BMW | 9th | 1 |
| 2004 | Car | BMW | 4th | 2 |
| 2005 | Car | Mitsubishi | 2nd | 1 |
| 2006 | Car | Mitsubishi | 1st | 2 |
| 2007 | Car | Mitsubishi | 2nd | 0 |
| 2008 | Event cancelled – replaced by the 2008 Central Europe Rally | Event cancelled – replaced by the 2008 Central Europe Rally | Event cancelled – replaced by the 2008 Central Europe Rally | Event cancelled – replaced by the 2008 Central Europe Rally |
| 2009 | Car | Mitsubishi | DNF | 0 |
