Rebellion ramps up Petit Le Mans preparations

Vaillante Rebellion has brought its new spare ORECA 07 chassis to the Nürburgring, but it won't be present at any other WEC rounds this year. The team is planning to send it back to its UK base after this weekend to be built up for its planned single car Petit Le Mans entry later this year.

The final driver squad for that effort is yet to be confirmed, though it is likely to follow the same all-star format of the car's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona entry in January (ABOVE), where it ran Neel Jani, Sebastien Buemi, Stephane Sarrazin and Nick Heidfeld. The final selection will be made depending on driver availability, with testing schedules for LMP1 factory teams, and for Formula E, still to be finalized.

The Rebellion team is targeting a third Petit Le Mans overall win, after taking victories in 2012 and 2013, both with Toyota-powered LMP1 Lolas

Initially, Rebellion's IMSA plan was to compete in the full four-round North American Endurance Cup, but after racing at Daytona and Sebring, the team skipped Watkins Glen because of late delivery of its third chassis and the logistical challenges leading up to and beyond Le Mans. The team lost one of its original ORECA 07 cars in pre-season testing and the third chassis effectively a replacement for that car, though heavily-delayed as ORECA rushed to fulfil demand for the 07.

Rebellion's other two ORECA 07 Gibsons, which are racing in the full 2017 FIA WEC, will be packed up and shipped to Mexico City for the flyaway rounds in the second half of the season immediately following Sunday's 6 Hours of Nürburgring.