ORECA to build new Gibson-powered Rebellion LMP1 racer
Rebellion Racing has revealed that its 2018 LMP1 challenger will be built by ORECA and powered by an engine from Gibson. The car, which Rebellion hopes will be driven to victory in the top flight of the World Endurance Championship, will be unveiled to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in early March.
The alliance between ORECA and Rebellion dates back to 2014, when the Swiss racing team ran the R-One in the LMP1 Private Teams category. Rebellion has applied for two teams to run in the upcoming WEC superseason, where the cars will be driven by Bruno Senna, Mathias Beche and Neel Jani, in one and in the other Andre Lotterer, Gustavo Menezes and Thomas Laurent.
Powering the Rebellion R13, as the racer will be known, is an uprated version of the atmospheric LMP2 spec engine made by Gibson.
“To design this new LMP1 prototype is a wonderful challenge,” said ORECA CEO Hugues de Chaunac. “When the design bureau began developing the ORECA 07, we really wanted to move up to the next level, one step higher compared to the ORECA 05.”
“The successes achieved last year really motivated and convinced us to now tackle this highly competitive category. Fitted with an atmospheric engine, this LMP1 will face a hard task against the hybrid cars, but the Rebellion R13 will be a very determined challenger.”