Louis Delétraz says it has been his dream to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans ahead of his debut with Swiss privateer squad Rebellion.
The Formula 2 racer will be partnering Nathanaël Berthon and Romain Dumas aboard the #3 Rebellion R13-Gibson, which will be his first competitive outing behind the wheel of the ORECA-built prototype.
“I’m so happy to be here,” Delétraz said. “It’s always been a dream to take part in this race. And to make my LMP1 debut with a Swiss team and to be fighting for a potential win, I really couldn’t be in a better position. I can’t wait to get things started.”
“The Rebellion is one of the best car I’ve driven in my life. It’s super high speed, has mega grip and there is no tyre deg at all. What’s not to like! You can really push.”
Delétraz is one of a number of drivers that have the distinction of making their debut at the postponed race which means he’ll face more darkness hours than usual. The 23-year-old says he is not concerned about the additional hours of night time driving.
“The calculation is that there will be 3h 40m of extra driving in the dark this year because we’re racing in September,” he explained. “I’ve done a lot of laps in the dark during testing and I’m totally fine with that. It’s actually really exhilarating because things come at you much faster than they do in the daylight.
Delétraz has also been racing with GPX Racing in the GT World Challenge Europe as well as his F2 programme with Charouz.
“There will be some really long days, but I’m definitely not complaining,” he said. “This will be my 11th race event in 12 weeks, so I’m having the time of my life.
“I’ve been given a fantastic opportunity to represent a team from my homeland and to drive one of the best privateer cars on the grid that has taken a podium at Le Mans before. That’s a massive honour and I’m so grateful to Rebellion Racing for this experience.
“I want to repay them in the best way I can. We’re going there because we want to win and we’ll try everything to do that. The aim is to do a perfect race with no mistakes and then we’ll see where we are.”
