In the 1990s, ORECA ran a BMW operation in the French Supertouring Championship and also won the FIA GT Championship. The team prepared Renault Clio S1600 cars for rallying and achieved success in ice racing, winning the Andros Trophy with Alain Prost driving a Toyota Corolla.
During the 2000s, ORECA assisted Renault Sport in developing the Mégane V6 for the Renault Eurocup Mégane Sport and fielded an Audi R8 at the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans with support from Audi France. In 2006, the Oreca Saleen S7R won the Spa-Francorchamps Le Mans race. ORECA also produced over 100 Dodge Viper Competition Coupes to GT3 specification between 2006 and 2007.
ORECA entered a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP for the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the subsequent Le Mans Series races, achieving overall victories at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve and the overall championship title, finishing ahead of the factory Peugeot teams. The team continued to race the Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP in 2011, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring)) despite the model’s retirement at the end of the previous season.
In 2007, ORECA purchased sports prototype manufacturer Courage Compétition, leading to the development of the Oreca 01 for the LMP1 class, first raced at the 2009 1000 km of Spa. ORECA also created the Formula Le Mans ‘FLM09’ in 2009, initially for its own series, then adapted for use in the American Le Mans Series, creating the LMPC category.
The Oreca 03, designed to meet the 2011 LMP2 regulations, featured a carbon-fibre monocoque and double-wishbone pushrod suspension. Between 2011 and 2015, the Oreca 03 and its 03R variant participated in over 60 races, securing more than 25 class wins across various series including the European Le Mans Series and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Notable wins included the 6 Hours of São Paulo and Shanghai with G-Drive Racing, and ELMS titles with Thiriet by TDS Racing.
In 2012, ORECA was selected to run the Toyota TS030 Hybrid LMP1 car in the FIA World Endurance Championship, but the car did not finish at Le Mans due to a crash and mechanical issues. The Oreca 05, launched in 2015, won the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
ORECA was selected as one of the four 2017 LMP2 manufacturers, launching the Oreca 07. Variations of the 07 were also created as the Rebellion R13 for the LMP1 class and the Acura ARX-05 for the IMSA SportsCar Championship, in partnership with Honda Performance Development. The R13 was later rebadged as the Alpine A480 to compete in the Le Mans Hypercar class. ORECA also won the tender for the 2028 LMP2 regulations and currently supplies chassis for Acura and Alpine under the LMDh regulations, with future supply agreements with Genesis and Ford from 2026 and 2027 respectively.
[unverified] Further detailed analysis of ORECA’s engineering innovations and impact on LMP2 racing is available in specialist motorsport engineering publications.
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