LMP2 Champions Rebellion Racing have announced a return to the LMP1 class for the 2018/2019 WEC Super Season. Rebellion will enter two cars full time for the season, with a driver lineup that factory teams would be proud of.

Current Rebellion drivers, Bruno Senna and Mathias Beche are joined by Porsche drivers André Lotterer and Neel Jani. Although they are both competing in Formula E, the current schedules have no clashes between FE and WEC.

Completing the driver lineup are Thomas Laurent and Gustavo Menezes. Laurent, now a Gold driver joins after a successful rookie season with Jackie Chan DC Racing. Menezes, although associated with Signatech Alpine in WEC, raced with Rebellion at Petit Le Mans. The American must have impressed, securing the LMP1 seat.

According to Daily Sports Car, the chassis is not yet confirmed but it is expected to be an ORECA developed car, exclusive to Rebellion. The engine is also not announced. The cars will be revealed at the Geneva International Motor Show in March.

The Rebellion announcement brings the LMP1 total to 9 confirmed cars, with an additional 2 Ginettas unannounced so far.

theRacingLine comment

Apart from the obviously great announcement of Rebellion returning to LMP1, there are a few other positives we can take from this.

Firstly we gone from a record low number of full time LMP1s (4) to the equal second highest. 9 LMP1s takes us back to the level of 2016, which is the most we’ve had since 2012. Technically, 2015 had more entries but since Nissan only ran at Le Mans, they can hardly be called full time entries.

We’ve went from record low, to record high. There is an argument to be made that the turnaround is less to do with the ACOs measures, and more to do with the lack of factory teams and poor reliability at Le Mans. Whilst it’s a sensible argument, we can’t prove it so should be appreciating the number of cars regardless.

The next big thing is great for purists – variety! If ORECA are indeed producing the chassis for Rebellion (R-Two?) then it’ll be 5 different chassis on the grid.

[su_list icon=”icon: angle-double-right” icon_color=”#3498db”]

  • Toyota TS050
  • ByKolles CLM P/01
  • Ginetta P1 (Manor, plus another)
  • Dallara BR-1 (DragonSpeed, SMP)
  • Rebellion branded Oreca

[/su_list]

Engine wise is looking great too. We’re already have 5 different power plants, although it’s unlikely that will expand further. The most likely options for Rebellion are a modified Gibson (which is what DragonSpeed are using), a Mecachrome (Manor), or Nissan (ByKolles).

[su_list icon=”icon: angle-double-right” icon_color=”#3498db”]

  • Toyota
  • Nissan (ByKolles)
  • Gibson (DragonSpeed)
  • Mecachrome (Manor)
  • AER (SMP)

[/su_list]

There is the possibility of a second Manor, but that’s looking slim. There is also the issue of the second Ginetta team. Ginetta have sold 2 LMP1 chassis to an unknown manufacturer. There are rumours all over the place on who has bought this, but my money is on Alpine looking for a home now they’re not allowed to run in LMP2 (unless the ACO changes their mind…again).

Either way, the WEC super season has went from looking like a bit of a dud, to one of the best for a few years.

Engineering student, lover of all things technical and lifelong motorsport fan. Employed in the Oil & Gas Industry, developing Major Emergency Management simulations. Owner of the best beard on the site.