WEC and Michel Vaillant Vrooom towards Spa!

At a well-attended press conference which took place today (27 April 2017) in Brussels, Belgium, the new Vaillante Rebellion livery was unveiled for the first time to the general public.

Photo:  (left to right) Jean Louis Dauger, Graton Editeur, Romain Grabowski, Motul, Nicolas Prost, Vaillante Rebellion, Calim Bouhadra, Rebellion, Dominique and Philippe Graton of Graton Editeur with the newly unveiled Vaillante Rebellion special livery. 

At a well-attended press conference which took place today (27 April 2017) in Brussels, Belgium, the new Vaillante Rebellion livery was unveiled for the first time to the general public.

The new colour scheme is in honour of the team’s partnership with Graton Editeur, the publishers of the famous Michel Vaillant comic strip books, and the event was held at the Club des V in the Anderlecht area of Brussels. 

The conference opened with WEC CEO Gérard Neveu and Porsche LMP Team’s André Lotterer talking about the fantastic event which awaits fans next week, the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (4-6 May).  There is a packed timetable of events on and off the track, and fun and entertainment for the whole family, and an extremely competitive grid of 30 cars which includes a third Toyota TS050 HYBRID.

Also speaking at the press conference were the other partners in the Vaillante Rebellion project, Motul, Graton Editeur and Rebellion Racing, including driver Nicolas Prost who was introduced to the Michel Vaillant books by his father, Alain.

The hero of the most famous Francophone car racing comic books is back in 2017 for his sixtieth birthday. In addition to the release of a new volume entitled "Rebellion", which will be published by Graton on June 2, the "Vaillante" team name will make its return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since 1997.  The new livery will be on the two Vaillante Rebellion LMP2 cars from the 24 Hours of Le Mans until the end of the 2017 FIA WEC season.

The showcar with Vaillante Rebellion colours (R-One LMP1 from 2016) will be exhibited in the Spa-Francorchamps hospitality paddock throughout the event next week.

Porsche LMP Team's Belgian-raised driver, André Lotterer.

Philippe Graton with a special Michel Vaillant helmet.

Gerard Neveu explaining to the Belgian media about the high level of competition expected in the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

Nicolas Prost with Club des V's Jean-Pol Piron and an Alain Prost helmet