Can Rebellion cause an upset at Le Mans?
The privateer team was closer to defeating Toyota than it looked last year, and several new factors could help it further this weekend in the fight for outright honours at sportscar racing's most prestigious event - the Le Mans 24 Hours
"We must do the perfect job: no driver mistakes, no team mistakes - we must not beat ourselves." That's familiar rhetoric from ORECA boss Hugues de Chaunac ahead of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
He almost certainly uttered something similar in the days when his team was fielding Chrysler Vipers in the 1990s or Judd-engined Dallaras in the 2000s. But it also hints at what might have been at the French enduro last year for the Rebellion Racing squad run by his organisation.
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Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.
Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.
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