Harold Primat and Rebellion Racing take podium spot in Sao Paulo

STRONG DRIVE BY HAROLD PRIMAT AND REBELLION RACING TO SECURE A THIRD PLACE FINISH IN THE PRIVATEER AND PETROL CLASSES AT THE SIX HOURS OF SAO PAULO

#13 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Coupé: Harold Primat, Andrea Belicchi

Photo by: xpb.cc

Swiss racing driver Harold Primat yesterday brought home the #13 Rebellion Racing car in third place in the privateer and petrol classes after a strong drive at the Six Hours of Sao Paulo.

Harold's team mate Andrea Belicchi had a good qualifying session on Friday; posting the sixth quickest lap time overall and the third fastest in the privateer and petrol classes. With the top three in the class separated by just two tenths of a second, Harold and the Rebellion Racing team were confident of challenging for a strong result in the race.

On Sunday afternoon, Andrea lined up in sixth place to take the race start at 12pm local time. Driving a strong first stint, Andrea came in after 45 minutes of racing to hand over to Harold. Re-joining the track in P8 Harold set about closing the 30 second gap to the cars ahead.

After 80 minutes of racing, the seventh placed Starworks Motorsports car came in to pit and elevated Harold to P7. Harold then set about catching the sixth placed JRM car. Lapping over half a second per lap quicker than the JRM car, Harold quickly had the JRM car driven by Dumbreck in his sights and made a stunning overtaking move to snatch P6.

Harold then turned his attention to catching fifth placed Kane in the Strakka Racing car. However before he was able to catch him, Kane came in to pit which elevated Harold to P5 overall and second place in the privateer and petrol class.

A few laps later Harold came in for a fuel stop and rejoined the track in P5 overall; just 17 seconds behind the sister Rebellion Racing car. Continuing to push hard Harold came in for another pit stop just after the two hour mark and rejoined the track in P7 overall, with the JRM and Strakka Racing cars in P5 and P6 still to make their next pit stop.

After two and a half hours of racing Harold came into the pits and handed the car over to Andrea for his next stint. With the JRM and Strakka Racing cars also making their pitstops, Andrea was elevated back up to P5.

Following another solid stint by Andrea, in which he maintained P5, he came back into the pits with 90 minutes of the race left on the clock for Harold to take his next stint. Harold rejoined the track in P6 and began to catch fifth placed Strakka Racing car. Having closed the gap right up, Harold made a move on the inside of the Strakka Racing car but there was a brief coming together as the Strakka Racing car turned in. Both cars were able to rejoin the track with Harold running in P5.

Harold continued to put in a series of quick laps and had pulled out a 50 second gap ahead of sixth place by the time he came in for the final fuel stop of the afternoon. There was a slight problem with the pitstop which meant it took longer than usual but Harold was still able to rejoin the track in P5. Harold continued to push hard in the closing stages of the race but, on old tyres, was being caught by the Strakka Racing car who had pitted for fresh tyres. With just a few laps to go the Strakka Racing car was able to snatch fifth place. After six hours of racing Harold crossed the finish line in sixth place overall and third place in the privateer and petrol classes.

“It’s great to leave Sao Paulo after another strong weekend for the team. We had a good pace in qualifying and during the race and have secured another good result. With the tyres degrading towards the end of the race it meant we only just missed out on a second place finish in the privateer and petrol classes which is a little disappointing but we can still be pleased with our result;” commented Harold Primat.

“We now look ahead to the next round which will be in Bahrain where we will be continuing to push hard to extend our lead in the privateer Championship;” continued Harold Primat.

Source: Harold Primat media