FE test clash will force Lotterer to miss WEC race for first time
LMP1 outfit Rebellion will bring Mathias Beche back into its line-up at Sebring in place of Andre Lotterer, who will miss a World Endurance Championship round for the first time
Beche contested the first five rounds of the 2018/19 WEC season alongside Gustavo Menezes and Thomas Laurent in the #3 Rebellion R13, the trio picking up the season's only privateer LMP1 win at Silverstone after the dominant Toyotas were disqualified.
Rebellion announced Nathanael Berthon would take Beche's place on a long-term deal last month, which would have left the 32-year-old on the sidelines for the Sebring race.
But Beche, who has competed with Rebellion in the WEC intermittently since 2013, has now been drafted back into the team's line-up for next month's Sebring round and will partner Neel Jani and Bruno Senna in the team's #1 car.
Rebellion's statement said that Jani's and Senna's regular partner Lotterer was unavaialble for the 1000-mile Sebring race on March 15 due to a clashing "simulator test in Formula E on the same dates".
Lotterer, the 2012 WEC champion and a three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner with Audi, is currently in his second Formula E campaign with frontrunning squad DS Techeetah.
His absence from the Sebring round will mark the first time he has skipped a race since the championship's inception in 2012.
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