Rebellion announce engine switch from Toyota to AER

Rebellion Racing has announced it will be switching engine providers for the 2015 World Endurance Championship, moving from Toyota V8s to Advanced Engine Research V6s.

The Swiss team, who have entered two Rebellion R-One non-hybrid cars into the LMP1 class, has brought forward the switch after the Toyota V8 was likely to be discontinued at the end of the year.

Rebellion Racing will now line up on the grid powered by AER P60 V6 GDI twin-turbo engines, which will be used in the WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

As a result of the late swap decision, Rebellion Racing will not be ready for the start of the WEC season. The team will miss both the WEC curtain-raiser at Circuit Paul Ricard and the first round of the championship at the 6 Hours of Silverstone. The team is aiming to make its 2015 return at the 6 Hours of Spa, scheduled for the 2nd May.

Rebellion Racing enjoyed four successful years with the Toyota, culminating in winning the FIA World Endurance Trophy for the privateers in the LMP1 class last season. The number 12 car, co-driven by Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche, claimed five victories in their class last season, including Le Mans where they also finished an impressive fourth in the overall classification.

Nonetheless, team manager Bart Hayden says he is thrilled to begin a new partnership with AER and is confident the engine will have a perfect marriage with the car.

"We are pleased to welcome them as our new engine partner and look forward to building a productive and successful working relationship," Hayden said. "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."

The team believe that AER will produce an extremely competitive engine package and that the P60 will provide the best combination of power, torque and efficiency available to the team.

Mike Lancaster, managing director of AER, thanked Rebellion Racing for selecting his team's engines ahead of the 2015 season.

"It's a fantastic opportunity for us to work with such a well-respected and successful racing team," Lancaster said. "We look forward to the 2015 WEC and Le Mans race with Rebellion and we hope to build on the team's successes for the future."

Hayden thanked Toyota for its work with the privateer team but believes this was the best time to call an end on the four-season partnership.

"We have enjoyed a strong relationship that has resulted in many class successes and overall victories over the past four years," Hayden added. "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."