Alexandre Prémat

Alexandre Prémat is a French racing driver. He 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

Prémat was born in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne.
In 1999, Prémat won the Coupe du Monde de Karting 125cc ICC. That same year, he finished as vice-champion in the Formule France de Karting ICC, clinching six victories. His success continued in 2000, when Prémat captured the Champion de France FC 125cc title.
Prémat continued karting until 2000, when he moved up to French Formula Campus. He finished the season in second place, securing two victories.

Formula Renault

Prémat quickly moved up to French Formula Renault for the 2001 season, with his teammate being Simon Pagenaud. In his first season, Prémat finished ninth in the points standings. The following year, in 2002, he won the Formula Renault French title. Also during this year, he 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 Formula 3 Euroseries, joining the ASM team alongside Olivier Pla. That season, he finished the year 7th in the points standings. In 2004, Prémat finished second in the points standings with six wins. He also won in the Marlboro Masters non-championship races and Macau Grand Prix.

GP2 Series

In 2005, Prémat joined ART Grand Prix to compete in the 2005 GP2 Series, the sister team to his former Formula 3 squad, ASM. Despite two wins that season, Prémat finished 4th in the championship, with his teammate Nico Rosberg claiming the title. The following year, Prémat finished third in the standings despite winning one race. Meanwhile, his new teammate, Lewis Hamilton, went on to dominate the season and win the championship.

A1 Grand Prix

Prémat also drove the A1 Team France car in A1 Grand Prix in the 2005–06 A1 [Grand Prix season|2005–06 season], he and team-mate Nicolas Lapierre winning the title for their nation. Prémat 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 Car 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, Prémat drove for Audi in the 2007 DTM series and participated in the 2007 [24 Hours of Le Mans|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, he 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

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup results

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
2002	ASM	MAG 3	SIL Ret	JAR 4	AND	OSC	SPA Ret	IMO	DON	EST	10th	36

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

Year

Entrant

Chassis

Engine

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

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

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