Breaking news
WEC Spa-Francorchamps (2018)
Rebellion warns LMP1 competition not "attractive"
Leading LMP1 privateer team Rebellion Racing has warned the category will not remain "attractive" unless the non-hybrids are given a performance boost to take on the dominant Toyotas.
Jamie Klein
Edited: May 7, 2018, 11:49 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Toyota's two TS050 Hybrids were a class apart in Saturday's FIA World Endurance Championship opener at Spa, with the best of the rest - the #1 Rebellion R-13 Gibson - finishing two laps down before being disqualified for a technical infraction.
It followed an Equivalence of Technology change aimed at slowing the non-hybrid privateers, via an effective reduction in energy permitted per lap and a reduction in maximum fuel per stint.
The privateers were also restricted to stints of no more than 17 laps in green flag conditions, two laps less than the Toyotas.
A post-race statement issued by Rebellion said "the ambition of the team is to be able to fight and offer a nice show for the Le Mans 24 Hours, but for that it is obvious that the EoT will have to be modified."
Rebellion Vice President Calim Bouhadra commented: "We are very happy with our races despite the disqualification of the #1.
"The cars showed that they were very performing and that we have our place at the top of the competition. But the competition will not be attractive if the advantage of hybrids is not reviewed."
Neel Jani, who shared the disqualified #1 car with Andre Lotterer and Bruno Senna at Spa, said the pre-race expectation for Rebellion had been to finish one lap behind the Toyotas.
However, it was delayed when it received two black-and-orange flags late on, the first one to "repair data transmitting" and requiring a long stop to solve.
"We were hoping to be only one lap down, to be honest," said Jani. "But we lost 1m30s with this thing in the pits, and we lost another 30s with a full-course yellow, so that's two minutes, which is a lap.
"The most difficult thing is fuel-saving, because we don’t know where we are. We don’t have the software. We’re always going to be not be efficient for that.
"But there’s a lot other things we have to get sorted. There’s a lot we can improve with set-up, aero, it’s the first time the car ran so we’re quite happy to finish third [on the road]."
The #1 car ran for the first time at Spa, as the sole chassis used by Rebellion for the Prologue test at Paul Ricard last month was raced as the #3 car that inherited third place in the final results.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Toyota froze Spa WEC battle in Alonso's favour
Next article Michelin fined €250,000 for WEC tyre rule breach
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jamie Klein
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
More from
Neel Jani
Estre, Jani praise revisions to "fairer" Le Mans qualifying format
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
Estre, Jani praise revisions to "fairer" Le Mans qualifying format
Jani explains fix for bizarre Porsche door problem while leading WEC Spa race
WEC
WEC
Spa
Jani explains fix for bizarre Porsche door problem while leading WEC Spa race
Daytona 24h: Derani unleashes track record to capture pole for Cadillac
IMSA
IMSA
Daytona 24 Hours
Daytona 24h: Derani unleashes track record to capture pole for Cadillac
More from
Rebellion Racing
Rebellion boss takes over Dumas' car after Dakar shakedown fire
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Rebellion boss takes over Dumas' car after Dakar shakedown fire
Toyota "surprised in two directions" by Rebellion pace
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
Toyota "surprised in two directions" by Rebellion pace
Rebellion has "no chance" of win unless Toyota slips up
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
Rebellion has "no chance" of win unless Toyota slips up
Latest news
Why Christian Horner banned Mercedes' name as Red Bull built its own F1 engine
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
3 min
Why Christian Horner banned Mercedes' name as Red Bull built its own F1 engine
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
1 h
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Alex Palou to drive Indy NXT machinery in Chris Griffis Memorial Test at IMS
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 1 h
Alex Palou to drive Indy NXT machinery in Chris Griffis Memorial Test at IMS
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
2 h
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe