Rebellion gets surprise win at Silverstone.

“Not just a podium place, but a win” said Gustavo Menezes on Instagram. And a welcome surprise for all WEC fans it was. After the exclusion of both Toyotas, Rebellion Racing scored a one-two finish in the six-hour at Silverstone. Rebellion becomes the first private and non-hybrid squad to win in FIA WEC.

Because of an imbalance in the EoT regulations, both non-hybrid Rebellion LMP1 cars were struggling to keep up with the Toyotas, losing a few seconds each lap. So the only way for Rebellion to force a place on the top step would be mechanical failure for the Toyotas. But in the two previous rounds both Toyota’s had been reliable and the Rebellion Squad reluctantly settled for podium spots.

The same story repeated itself last weekend in Silverstone. Where Toyota #8 looked to be settling in for the win and the #7 was homing in on second place. After post-race scrutiny, the paddock was baffled to learn that both Toyotas had issues with their skid blocks (a block underneath the car that is worn down during the race), leading to the exclusion of both cars and bumping the Rebellion team up to first and second.

The winning car was Rebellion #3, driven by Mathias Beche, Thomas Laurent and Gustavo Menezes which was handed top spot, after the #1 car with Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer (Bruno Senna had been injured in an accident during free practice) had a problem with one of its rear lights and had to go into the pits to have it fixed.