Rebellion swaps to AER engines for its 2015 LMP1 WEC programme

Rebellion is swapping over from the Toyota 3.4-litre naturally-aspirated V8, having revealed last week it was ending that supply deal, to use the same engine that powered the ByKolles (nee Lotus) squad's CLM P1/01 in the final five races of last year's WEC.

The late decision to swap engines means that the two R-Ones will miss the opening round of the WEC at Silverstone in mid-April, as well as the mandatory pre-season test at Paul Ricard at the end of March.

Rebellion team manager Bart Hayden said: "This partnership is exciting news for Rebellion Racing.

"The AER P60 engine has shown good performance on track already and we believe that it will marry well to the Rebellion R-One chassis.

"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, which is why we will not be ready in time to debut the new cars at the season-opening race at Silverstone."

Rebellion explained that it had decided to curtail its relationship with Toyota, which would have come to an end after 2015 anyway, one year early in order to prepare for the future.

AER boss Mike Lancaster added that the deal with Rebellion was "a fantastic opportunity to work with such a well-respected and successful racing team".

Rebellion started using the Toyota RV8K-LM powerplant, which had its roots in the Japanese marque's Super GT and Formula Nippon V8, for 2011 and notched up three top-six finishes in the Le Mans 24 Hours, three successive privateers' titles in the WEC and the 2011 Le Mans Series LMP1 teams' crown.