Luc Alphand

Luc Aimé 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 three 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. His son Nils Alphand skied for France at the 2026 Olympics.

World Cup results

Season standings Season Age Overall Slalom Giantslalom 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 Downhill1997 Overall Downhill Super G

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

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 Alphand 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 for health reasons.

From 2021 to 2022, Alphand was the sporting director for the Silk Way Rally. He departed the position following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Alphand became the Extreme E team principal for Veloce Racing in late 2022.

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 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