Rebellion Racing choose AER engines for 2015
Rebellion Racing’s LMP1 cars will compete with a new power plant for 2015 after forging an engine partnership with Advanced Engine Research (AER).
The Swiss team’s two Rebellion R-One non-hybrid LMP1 cars will be powered by AER P60 V6 GDI twin-turbo engines, switching from the naturally aspirated Toyota RV8K-LM 3.4 litre V8 engines used to date. Rebellion has registered for two entries in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It is a forward thinking decision because an engine change was certain at the end of the 2015 season as this would have been the last year of the RV8K-LM. However, changing for a new engine partner one year earlier than necessary was not an easy decision to make. Rebellion Racing had four highly successful years with the Toyota RV8K-LM engine and a great relationship with TMG and Toyota Motorsport engineers and management staff.
The team believes that Advanced Engine Research will provide an extremely competitive engine package and that the P60 engine configuration gives the best maximum power / torque / efficiency combination available on the market for an LMP1 team.
Rebellion and its chassis partner ORECA are already working against the clock to develop a revised version of the Rebellion R-One to be fitted with the AER V6 twin-turbo engine. As the decision to change engine has been made deep into the off-season, the team has informed the FIA WEC that their cars will not be ready in time for the start of the 2015 championship. The team will miss both the FIA WEC Prologue at Circuit Paul Ricard and the first round of the championship at the 6 Hours of Silverstone. The team will be putting all their efforts into making the debut of the new Rebellion R-One AER cars around the time of the 6 Hours of Spa.
Bart Hayden, REBELLION Racing Team Manager: “We are delighted to announce our new association with Advanced Engine Research for the 2015 FIA WEC season and beyond, this partnership is exciting news for REBELLION Racing. We are pleased to welcome them as our new engine partner and look forward to building a productive and successful working relationship. The AER P60 engine has shown good performance on track already and we believe that this engine will marry well to the Rebellion R-One chassis. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank TOYOTA and TMG who have been so closely associated with our team and their continued hard work since we started our engine partnership at the end of the 2010 season. We have enjoyed a strong relationship that has resulted in many class successes and overall victories over the past four years. We are faced with a significant amount of work to upgrade the R-One cars to accommodate the P60 engine and we are fully determined to do it in the best way possible, that is why we will not be ready in time to debut the new cars at the season opening race at Silverstone.”
Mike Lancaster, Advanced Engine Research Managing Director: “We thank REBELLION Racing for choosing to work with AER and to use our AER P60 V6 GDI twin-turbocharged LMP-1 engine. It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to work with such a well-respected and successful racing Team and we have already been impressed with the dedication and in-depth knowledge of the entire Team. We look forward to the 2015 WEC and Le Mans race with REBELLION Racing and we hope to build on the Team’s successes for the future. ”