Thomas Laurent gives way to another rebel, Gustavo Menezes in the APR REBELLION Racing team for the European Le Mans Series season. Last February, the team announced that it had selected the Portuguese team Algarve Pro Racing to operate a LMP2 car in ELMS for their professionalism and their desire for performance.
Thomas Laurent, initially announced at the wheel of the car, will finally focus on the world endurance championship for his first season in the LMP1 category. The ORECA 07 welcomes Gustavo Menezes for the 2018 season. The American driver joins Harrison Newey and Ryan Cullen, a young team with many ambitions for the upcoming season. Menezes drove for Alpine last season in the FIA WEC.
Calim Bouhadra: "Gustavo is an excellent driver, he proved it for several years now. We are delighted to be able to join him to the ELMS program. We have great ambitions for Thomas and we wanted to focus his involvement on the World Endurance Championship with a strong desire for success for his first season in the LMP1 category. We would have liked to have more Rebellion drivers to APR Rebellion Racing but despite all our efforts, the financial constraints prevented it. We are still looking forward to starting the FIA WEC Prologue and the ELMS Test days in the coming days!"
Gustavo Menezes: "I am extremely excited to be joining APR-Rebellion for the 2018 ELMS season. It is a championship I’ve been trying to get into for quite a while as it perfectly aligns alongside FIA WEC. It really came as a surprise to me when the phone rang and I have never said let’s do this so fast. I would like to thank everyone at Algarve and at Rebellion for making this happen and I truly am excited to get on the track now more than ever. I think together with Harrison who comes from a similar background as me and Ryan who also comes from a long junior Motorsports career, we have a very good chance to be fighting at the front every race weekend. The biggest bonus is extending my 2018 calendar from 5 races to 11. Up next we have the FIA WEC Prologue and then immediately after the ELMS one, so I’m looking forward to seeing everyone out there and working with the boys!"
