LE MANS: Marco Andretti To Le Mans

Le Mans / ALMS

LE MANS: Marco Andretti To Le Mans

Third-generation driver signs with Rebellion Racing for 24 Hours of Le Mans.

John Dagys | Posted February 21, 2010 Sebring, FL

Marco Andretti will make his Le Mans debut for Rebllion Racing. (LAT)

The Andretti name will return to Le Mans in 2010. Ten years after his grandfather’s last attempt, third-generation racer Marco Andretti will try his hand at the world’s most famous endurance race.

Marco Andretti will make his Le Mans debut with Rebellion Racing. (LAT)

The 22-year-old IndyCar star was confirmed Sunday as part of Rebellion Racing’s LMP1 squad. Team owner and Rebellion CEO Alexandre Pesci broke the news on French radio station RMC, completing his team’s star-studded lineup.

Andretti joins former A1GP and Champ Car driver Neel Jani and second-generation racer Nicolas Prost in the Anglo-Swiss team’s No. 12 Lola B10/60 Rebellion. Andrea Belicchi, Jean-Christophe Boullion and American Le Mans Series veteran Guy Smith complete the lineup in the sister No. 13 machine.

Marco is no stranger to sportscar racing, having competed in three ALMS races in 2008 for Andretti-Green Racing, co-owned by father, Michael. He instantly was up to speed in the team’s Acura ARX-01b prototype and has never hid his dreams of one day competing at Le Mans. There were even rumors of Mario coming out of retirement to join Michael and Marco in an all-Andretti driving squad, but plans never materialized following AGR’s pullout from sportscar racing at the end of 2008.

Despite their rich heritage in open-wheel racing, an Andretti has never won Le Mans overall. Michael made his first Le Mans start in 1983, finishing third at the wheel of a Kremer Racing Porsche 956 with Mario and Frenchman Philippe Alliot. The father-and-son duo returned in 1998, joined by Mario’s nephew, John, in a factory Porsche 962, finishing sixth. Mario and Michael also competed in the 1997 edition in a Courage C36. Mario’s last start at Le Mans came in 2000 at the wheel of a factory Panoz LM01.

Following a season campaigning Lolas in both LMP1 and LMP2, the newly renamed Rebellion Racing squad steps up to a two-car P1 program for 2010, with fully upgraded Lola B10/60 chassis. The team completed tests in both Portugal and Spain last week in the run-up to the European-based Le Mans Series season.

Andretti is expected to climb behind the wheel of the car for the official Le Mans Series pre-season test at Paul Ricard on March 7-8.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Dagys

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