Gibson to Supply LMP1 Engines to Rebellion Racing
Gibson Technology has entered a new contract with Rebellion Racing and chassis constructor Oreca to supply LMP1 engines for the 2018/’19 World Endurance Championship Super Season.
Rebellion Racing-the 2017 WEC LMP2 champions-have confirmed its intention to contest LMP1 in FIA WEC in 2018, running a two-car team with an Oreca chassis and Gibson GL458 engine. This is a return to the top category of WEC for Rebellion and will include competing in the grueling Le Mans 24 hours.
“We are excited to make our come-back in LMP1 and to do this project with both ORECA and Gibson Technology,” said Calim Bouhadra, vice president of the Rebellion Group. “We had an excellent package in 2017 with the ORECA 07 chassis and the V8 Gibson engine and we made it successful by winning the FIA WEC title. We are really happy to continue this partnership. It was the natural step for REBELLION Racing and it will be for sure a great challenge. We all share the same motivation.”
The new LMP1 engine supplied by Gibson will be based on its successful LMP2 engine. Design, development and production of the new GL458 are taking place at Gibson’s state-of-the-art Repton facility, with the first engine being scheduled for delivery to Rebellion next month.
“The new LMP1 engine contract with Rebellion Racing and Oreca is a natural progression for our company and we are extremely pleased to continue with the successful partnership that we formed with them during 2017, which will further enable us to develop our engine technology to compete against some of the top sports car and engine manufacturers at the pinnacle of world sportscar racing,” said John Manchester, Gibson Technology’s operations director. “We are all very much looking forward to the exciting challenge ahead.”
All LMP2 teams in WEC, ELMS, Le Mans 24 Hour and IMSA in the USA are currently powered by Gibson engines, with over 600,000kms covered so far with the GK428 engines. The new LMP1 contract with Rebellion Racing is a natural progression for Gibson’s engineers to prove their reliability and success at the top level of endurance racing, according to the company.
“ORECA has a great and successful relationship with Gibson Technology on the LMP2 program. So when we had to investigate the different options for an LMP1 engine, it made sense to talk about this project with Gibson and at the end it was an obvious choice,” said Hugues de Chaunac, CEO of ORECA Group. “They have shown their abilities in sports cars for many years. We need a strong, reliable and competitive engine for the Rebellion R13 and we are confident we will have it with the Gibson V-8. We will have a strong package and we are looking forward to it.”
