Photo by: Richard Sloop
REBELLION Racing will return to Road Atlanta for the 15th edition of «Petit Le Mans», the final round of the 2012 American Le Mans Series from 17 to 20 october.
REBELLION Racing will make its second appearance at the 1000 mile race of Petit Le Mans, after last year’s debut where the Swiss team secured fifth place overall and best Rookie team.
REBELLION Racing will field only one car for this event. During the Petit Le Mans week, the team’s two other Lola-Toyota cars and their equipment will be being transported from Japan to China, the venues for the two last rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Lola-Toyota LMP1 car to be entered at Petit will be the Team’s third chassis, the one that is usually kept as a spare. The car will be a full 2012 specification car, the same as the ones the team is running in the FIA World Endurance Championship, but with minor adjustments to the overall weight and engine restrictor to bring it into line with the other LMP1s racing in the ALMS.
The Lola-Toyota LMP1 will have three drivers due to the length of the race. Neel Jani (CH) and Nicolas Prost (FRA), who are a regular driver pairing in the FIA WEC, will be supported by Andrea Belicchi (ITA) who usually races in the Team’s sister Lola-Toyota LMP1.
These three drivers are the same trio that drove together in the Lola-Toyota entered by REBELLION Racing at Petit Le Mans last year.
REBELLION Racing will head to Road Atlanta with only one aim: to win Petit Le Mans.
For the Swiss team, this year’s edition will be a great opportunity to target the overall win.
Factory teams running diesel or hybrid cars will not be present, but the 2012 Petit Le Mans will see the strongest European and American private LMP1 teams, backed by three auto giants Toyota, Honda and Mazda, all competing for the win.
With REBELLION Racing, the 2011 Le Mans Series Champions and current 2012 FIA WEC LMP1 Team Trophy leaders, Dyson Racing, the 2011 American Le Mans Series Champions and Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, currently leading the 2012 American Le Mans Series teams classification, the 2012 Petit Le Mans will be like a « LMP1 Privateers’ Team World Cup » event.
The logistics challenge for the team is massive, as Petit Le Mans will be held between two rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Japan and China, the three races being on three consecutive weekends in October, but the team’s preparations are well underway, as the third Lola-Toyota car was built before the Silverstone FIA WEC event.
Bart Hayden, REBELLION Racing Team Manager: ”It is always a real pleasure to go racing in the USA, the competition is strong, but the ambience in the paddock is very friendly. We are confident with our ability to be competitive at Petit Le Mans and we have experience there from last year’s race.
Our target is clear, it is to go for the overall win of the race. We have won the last three FIA WEC rounds in the LMP1 Privateer Team Trophy, but this time we will be racing for the overall win, and that’s the attraction at such a prestigious event as Petit Le Mans.
As an LMP1 privateer team in the FIA WEC, we’re in the shadow of the Factory teams and even when we win and score maximum points, the visibility that we get does not match our partners expectations; our strong results and all the efforts made by the team at the races and in-between goes unnoticed.
For those reasons, the team and our main partners have decided to race at Petit Le Mans. If we can achieve a great result there, the visibility and recognition for our team would make all the extra effort worthwhile.”
Source REBELLION Racing
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