The #13 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca 07 Gibson of Nelson Piquet Jnr, David Heinemeier Hanson and Mathias Beche has been disqualified from the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours, following the post-race technical checks.

The Stewards penalised the team for modifying homologated bodywork and using during the race. The full decision is as follows:

“The Stewards received, following the race, a report and video from the Technical Delegate, that clearly show a hole that has been fashioned by the competitor in the right-hand side of the engine cover.

“The competitor admitted that this was the case and that the hole was made in a second set of bodywork, which was fitted during a pit stop so that the competitor could access the starter motor without having to remove the rear bodywork and wing section and the remove the engine cover each time they stopped to hit the solenoid of the starter motor which was malfunctioning”

As a result, the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07 has been promoted to second place in LMP2 and third overall, making it a 1-2 result for the team in the class. The #35 Signatech Alpine A470 has therefore been promoted to third in the LMP2 class too.

Vaillante Rebellion has confirmed its intention to file an appeal with the officials.

Another key stewards decision was also made in the race. Roman Rusinov has been penalised for his collision with the #88 Proton Competition Porsche in the second hour of the race at the Porsche Curves.

The penalty is a three-minute stop and go to be served by the #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca at the FIA WEC round at the Nürburgring, with a further three-minute stop and go penalty suspended for the following three events of the championship.