For the 2012 season, Chatin remained in the Eurocup with Tech 1.[12] He improved to sixth in the championship, but failed to achieve a victory during the campaign. He defended his third position in Formula Renault 2.0 Alps, losing the title fight to Daniil Kvyat and Nato.[13]
Sports car career
In 2013, Chatin decided to switch to sports car racing, joining Team Endurance Challenge in the LMPC category of the European Le Mans Series.[14] In a class with just two full-time entries, Chatin and teammate Gary Hirsch won the series title thanks to three wins at Imola, Spielberg and the Hungaroring.
For the 2014 season, the Frenchman moved to the LMP2 category, joining the Signatech Alpine squad alongside Nelson Panciatici and Oliver Webb. The team were victorious at Spielberg and scored another two podiums on their way to the championship title. Chatin and his teammates also contested the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where they finished third in the LMP2 category.
Remaining with Signatech Alpine, Chatin progressed to the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2015.[15] In spite of retirements at Silverstone and Le Mans, the campaign proved to be a success, as the team finished second at Fuji and won at Shanghai on their way to fourth in the standings.
Chatin returned to the ELMS in 2016, partnering Timothé Buret and former French football goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.[16] The team struggled despite Chatin's speed, proven by a fastest lap at Silverstone and a pole position in Imola, scoring a best result of seventh four times to finish eighth overall. The following year, Chatin made two appearances in the series, driving the final two races for IDEC Sport Racing.[17]
2018 saw the beginning of the full-time partnership between Chatin and IDEC Sport, with the Frenchman being fielded in the ELMS alongside Memo Rojas and Paul Lafargue, the silver-ranked son of team owner Patrice Lafargue.[18] Chatin led the outfit to a pair of third places, their first podiums in the series, as well as scoring the team's maiden pole positions at Le Castellet and Spielberg.[19][20] These performances contributed to a third-placed finish at the end of the year. Additionally, Chatin and his teammates competed at Le Mans, where the Frenchman scored pole in qualifying.[21]
The IDEC Sport car that delivered Chatin his third ELMS title in 2019.
Reunited with Lafargue, Rojas, and IDEC Sport for the 2019 season, Chatin would start the year off with two runner-up finishes, before taking a pole position at Barcelona.[22] At round 4 in Silvertsone, the team benefited from a late fuel-related pit stop for rivals G-Drive Racing to take its first win in the ELMS.[23] At the following round in Spa, a crash for Chatin at Raidillon during practice forced IDEC to miss qualifying, though thanks to the sourcing of a new chassis the team recovered to sixth on Sunday.[24] Chatin redeemed himself during the season finale in Portugal, charging through to take the lead from Phil Hanson before holding on to win the race and, by extension, the championship.[25]
The pandemic-affected2020 campaign proved to be challenging for Chatin, who was joined by Lafargue as well as Richard Bradley for the year.[26] The trio managed a highest finish of seventh place and ended the season ninth in the teams' championship, with Chatin missing a race after contracting COVID-19.[27] In 2021, Chatin and Lafargue partnered Patrick Pilet in the ELMS.[28] In a quiet season, IDEC Sport ended up ninth in the teams' standings. That year did not fail to yield success for Chatin however, as he won the 24 Hours of Daytona in class for Era Motorsport.[29]
In 2022, the trio of French drivers remained at IDEC, which reverted to a one-car operation.[30] During the first half of the season, Chatin and his teammates took three successive top 5 finishes, with the highlight being an imposing late stint by the French driver at Monza which brought victory back to the team.[31] After this, the season brought disappointment, as IDEC fell back to fifth place by the end of the year.
Chatin remained in the ELMS for his sixth full season at IDEC Sport in 2023, partnering Lafargue and German LMP3 graduate Laurents Hörr.[32] Though the squad failed to win a race, Chatin was able to lead IDEC to fifth in the standings with two LMP2 Pro class podiums and a pole position at the final event in Portimão. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans meanwhile, Chatin took LMP2 pole for the second time in his career, before putting the team in contention for a class podium — the chances of which were reduced to zero due to a late puncture.[33] The 2023 season also saw Chatin compete in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports alongside gentleman driver Ben Keating.[34] Joined by silver-ranked rookie Alex Quinn at the endurance events, the duo took four podiums from seven races, including a win at Road America, and clinched the LMP2 class title with a runner-up result at Petit Le Mans.[35][36]
^Allen, Peter (20 September 2011). "PaddockScout Weekend Roundup: 17–18 September". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 3 November 2014. Paul-Loup Chatin scored a home victory in the first race from pole position, his maiden win in the series.
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