The two new Rebellion R-One LMP1-L cars, Nos.12 and 13, will this weekend make their first appearance in the toughest endurance race in the world, facing very strong opposition from the factory teams of three of the most prestigious car manufacturers in the world, all with hybrid cars.
More than in previous years, reliability will be the main factor for a strong result in the race as the LMP1 cars are carrying a lot of new technologies due to the new regulations. The Swiss team's first aim is to see both its cars reaching the chequered flag on Sunday afternoon. Placing the Rebellion R-Ones high in the classification among the top 6 is a reasonable target, reaching the podium would be a fantastic achievement for a private team.
Until now, Rebellion Racing's best achievement at Le Mans 24 Hours is a fourth place in 2012, which prevented an historical 1-2-3-4 from the Audi factory team. Rebellion has also achieved three class podiums in the race.
The team is expecting that the latest regulation changes, announced today, will help the LMP1-L cars to be closer on pace to the Hybrid cars. The R-Ones have received a weight break of -40kg, will receive an increased fuel capacity of 3.7L to take them to 72 litres, and most crucially will have no limit to the fuel consumption per lap.
Among the Rebellion Racing drivers, only 2013 GP2 Champion Fabio Leimer will be making his debut at Le Mans 24 Hours. He successfully qualified for the event after he completed mandatory running during Le Mans Test Day last Sunday. He will drive R-One - Toyota No.13 with Andrea Belicchi and Dominik Kraihamer.
Car No.12's line-up is also unchanged with the Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche trio, winners of the first two rounds of the 2014 FIA WEC in the LMP1-L class.
Bart Hayden – REBELLION Racing Team Manager : “Since the Test day last weekend, there has been a small change to the regulations to help close the gap to the factory cars and we hope that this will put us into a more competitive position. We're still learning about the R-One cars, but over time we have managed to put some reasonable mileage on to may of the components. We are better prepared than we were when we debuted the cars at Spa last month, but our expectations for the 24 hour race are still only modest. Of course, we will be pushing to the maximum in the hope of staying in a competitive position ready to benefit from any difficulties that others might have. Our own reliability is not totally proven, so we are preparing for a tough race. Nonetheless, we are very excited to be part of this new era of LMP1 racing and are looking forward to putting on a good show."
Fiona Miller (quote from Rebellion Racing)
Photo: SPA FRANCORCHAMPS CIRCUIT (SPA FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM), WEC 6 HOURS OF SPA FRANCORCHAMPS, PRACTICE, FRIDAY 02 MAY 2014. The No.13 Rebellion R-One Toyota.
