Rebellion Racing was a Swiss racing team that competed in endurance racing. The team competed in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season and won the LMP1 teams' title in the 2011 Le Mans Series season. The team started as an association between Speedy Racing and Sebah Racing, which began in 2008. Rebellion Racing's last team principal was Alexandre Pesci and the team manager was Bart Hayden.[1]

Switzerland Rebellion Racing
Founded2010
Folded2020
Team principal(s)Alexandre Pesci
Current seriesDakar Rally
Former seriesFIA World Endurance Championship
European Le Mans Series
American Le Mans Series
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Intercontinental Le Mans Cup
Noted driversGermany André Lotterer
Switzerland Neel Jani
Brazil Bruno Senna
Switzerland Mathias Beche
France Thomas Laurent
United States Gustavo Menezes
France Nathanael Berthon
France Norman Nato
Switzerland Louis Delétraz
France Romain Dumas
France Nicolas Prost
United States Marco Andretti
France Jean-Christophe Boullion
Italy Andrea Belicchi
United Kingdom Guy Smith
Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen
Switzerland Harold Primat
China Congfu Cheng
Switzerland Fabio Leimer
Austria Dominik Kraihamer
Switzerland Alexandre Imperatori
Germany Daniel Abt
Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr.
Denmark David Heinemeier Hansson
France Julien Canal
France Thomas Laurent
Switzerland Steve Zacchia
France Xavier Pompidou
Switzerland Andrea Chiesa
Switzerland Iradj Alexander
Switzerland Benjamin Leuenberger
United Kingdom Jonny Kane
Teams'
Championships
7 (2011 LMS, (2012 FIA WEC, 2013 FIA WEC, 2014 FIA WEC, 2015 FIA WEC, 2016 FIA WEC FIA Endurance Trophy for Private LMP1 Teams), 2017 FIA WEC FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams)
Drivers'
Championships
4 (2014 FIA WEC, 2015 FIA WEC, 2016 FIA WEC FIA LMP1 Private Teams Drivers Trophy), 2017 FIA WEC FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers)

Rebellion Racing's two cars at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Rebellion Racing's Lola B10/60 Toyota engined race car.
Rebellion Racing's driver Andrea Belicchi.

From 2012 to 2016 the team participated in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP1 category as a privateer, with two Lola B12/60 cars from 2012 to 2013, and two Rebellion R-One cars from 2014 to 2016. In 2017 the team moved to the LMP2 category with two Oreca 07 cars.[2] Rebellion Racing would move back up to the LMP1 class in the 2018-19 FIA WEC & 2019-20 FIA WEC seasons with its R13 Gibson 4.5L V8 powered prototype until ending its operations after the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans.

On 4 December 2019, it was announced that from the 2022-23 Season onwards, the team would be set to become the factory team of Peugeot Sport, and will run Le Mans Hypercars in the FIA World Endurance Championship as Rebellion Peugeot.[3] However, on 13 February 2020, it was announced by the team's parent company, Rebellion Corporation, that following a strategic committee meeting, it was decided that the firm would cease its motorsport business operations after the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans.[4][5]

2011 season edit

In 2011, Rebellion Racing and Toyota Motorsport GmbH confirmed their plans for a Le Mans Prototype LMP1 engine supply partnership. Two Rebellion Racing Lola LMP1 cars powered by Toyota engines in LMP1. At the end of October 2010, Rebellion Racing and Toyota Motorsport engineers conducted an evaluation test programme at Portimao, Portugal and Monteblanco, Spain. The team have renewed the contracts of its regular 2010 drivers. Neel Jani / Nicolas Prost and Andrea Belicchi /Jean-Christophe Boullion will again spearhead the Rebellion Racing attack.[1]

24 Hours of Le Mans edit

At the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans, the no. 12 car of Nicolas Prost/Neel Jani/Jeroen Bleekemolen qualified 8th and finished 6th overall. It was the first gasoline finisher. The no. 13 car of Andrea Belicchi/Jean-Christophe Boullion and Guy Smith retired after 190 laps.

Le Mans Series edit

Rebellion won the LMP1 teams' title with 51 points, 1 point more than Pescarolo Team, which came courtesy of Neel Jani's pole position.[6]

Intercontinental Le Mans Cup edit

In the season finale in Zhuhai, the top gasoline-powered LMP1 car was the Rebellion team's Toyota-engined Lola coupe driven by Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost. It came back from an unscheduled stop to change front and rear bodywork, after Jani ran into the back of Allan McNish's Audi R18, to overhaul the OAK Racing OAK-Pescarolo driven by Alexandre Premat, Olivier Pla and Jacques Nicolet for fourth position and[7] scored the points needed to secure third place in the Team classification in LM P1 of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, behind the turbo diesels of the Peugeot and Audi factory teams.[8]

2012 season edit

World Endurance Championship edit

On 1 February 2012, it was announced that German driver Nick Heidfeld would drive a Rebellion Lola-Toyota in select rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Heidfeld will share the wheel of the Anglo-Swiss squad's No. 12 LMP1 entry with Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, Six Hours of Spa and 24 Hours of Le Mans. He completes Rebellion's lineup, with Jeroen Bleekemolen having been announced on 31 January as the third driver in the No. 13 Lola-Toyota with Andrea Belicchi and Harold Primat.[9]

Petit Le Mans edit

Rebellion Racing entered the 2012 Petit Le Mans to attempt to score an overall victory at the race since Audi chose to not enter the race. After early battling with Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, the latter crashed when attempting to pass a GT car, allowing Rebellion to lead the rest of the race and win Petit Le Mans.

2013 season edit

Rebellion Racing participated in both the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship season and 2013 American Le Mans Series season. But in July, midway through the season, the team decided to end its ALMS programme and focus on the WEC. After that, it only contested the Petit Le Mans series finale at Road Atlanta in October.[10] Rebellion Racing took their second consecutive overall victory at Petit Le Mans, after Muscle Milk Pickett Racing again retired halfway through the race.[11]

2014 season edit

On 8 June 2013, Rebellion confirmed they have entered a partnership with Oreca to design and build their own LMP1 car, the Rebellion R-One. The car debuted at the 2014 Spa 6 Hours in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship and continues to use Toyota engines.[12]

2015 season edit

On 3 February 2015, Rebellion Racing announced a new engine partnership for the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship season. The Rebellion R-One LMP-1 cars will be powered by twin-turbo engines from Advanced Engine Research. Rebellion Racing will use AER P60 V6 GDI twin-turbocharged power units.[13]

On 25 March 2015, it was announced that Alexandre Imperatori and Daniel Abt had signed up with the team to pilot the squad's second car alongside Dominik Kraihamer.[14]

2016 season edit

The Rebellion R-One LMP1 cars continued to be powered by AER P60 V6 GDI twin-turbo engines from Advanced Engine Research while also using Dunlop Tyres after previously using Michelin tyres. Their driver line-up would be Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost and Nelson Piquet Jr. with Mathias Beche in round 4 in the #12 entry car. The #13 entry car's drivers would be Dominik Kraihamer, Alexandre Imperatori and Mathéo Tuscher.

2017 season edit

 
Rebellion Oreca 07 with LMP2 Endurance Trophy

After a four-year hiatus, Rebellion Racing participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship which started at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January. The team also decided to switch to the LMP2-class in the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship.[15] The team was renamed Vaillante Rebellion, following a partnership with Editions Graton, the publishers of the French comic Vaillante.[16]

2018–2019 season edit

In 2018 the WEC switched to a winter calendar. Rebellion Racing returned to the LMP1 class with the new Rebellion R13 prototype, and two full season entries. They competed in both the 2018 and 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, achieving a 3rd place in the 2018 edition. This season the team also achieved their first overall win in the WEC at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, after the two Toyota cars got disqualified after the race. The team finished 2nd in the teams' championship.

2019–2020 season edit

Rebellion Racing announced a single full-season entry for the 2019–2020 season, with another entry set to be entered on a race-by-race basis depending on sponsorships. The second entry was raced at Silverstone, Spa and Le Mans. The team took their first "on track" victory at the 4 hours of Shangai, with the #1 car qualifying in 1st place and winning the race, becoming the first privateer team to do so in the WEC's history. The same happened at that year's Lone Star Le Mans, where the team took their last win. Rebellion Racing's last race was that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, the second to last race on the calendar, after which the team retired from motorsports following a decision taken by its parent company, Rebellion Corporation.

Racing record edit

24 Hours of Le Mans results edit

Year Entrant No Car Drivers Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2008   Speedy Racing Team
  Sebah Automotive
33 Lola B08/80-Judd   Steve Zacchia
  Andrea Belicchi
  Xavier Pompidou
LMP2 194 DNF DNF
  Speedy Racing Team 94 Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R   Andrea Chiesa
  Iradj Alexander
  Benjamin Leuenberger
GT2 72 DNF DNF
2009   Speedy Racing Team
  Sebah Automotive
13 Lola B08/60-Aston Martin   Andrea Belicchi
  Nicolas Prost
  Neel Jani
LMP1 342 14th 12th
33 Lola B08/80-Judd   Benjamin Leuenberger
  Xavier Pompidou
  Jonny Kane
LMP2 343 12th 2nd
2010   Rebellion Racing 12 Lola B10/60-Rebellion   Nicolas Prost
  Neel Jani
  Marco Andretti
LMP1 175 DNF DNF
13 Lola B10/60-Rebellion   Jean-Christophe Boullion
  Andrea Belicchi
  Guy Smith
LMP1 143 DNF DNF
2011   Rebellion Racing 12 Lola B10/60-Toyota   Nicolas Prost
  Neel Jani
  Jeroen Bleekemolen
LMP1 338 6th 6th
13 Lola B10/60-Toyota   Andrea Belicchi
  Jean-Christophe Boullion
  Guy Smith
LMP1 190 DNF DNF
2012   Rebellion Racing 12 Lola B12/60-Toyota   Nicolas Prost
  Nick Heidfeld
  Neel Jani
LMP1 367 4th 4th
13 Lola B12/60-Toyota   Andrea Belicchi
  Jeroen Bleekemolen
  Harold Primat
LMP1 350 11th 7th
2013   Rebellion Racing 12 Lola B12/60-Toyota   Nicolas Prost
  Nick Heidfeld
  Neel Jani
LMP1 275 39th 7th
13 Lola B12/60-Toyota   Mathias Beche
  Andrea Belicchi
  Congfu Cheng
LMP1 275 40th 8th
2014   Rebellion Racing 12 Rebellion R-One-Toyota   Nicolas Prost
  Nick Heidfeld
  Mathias Beche
LMP1-L 360 4th 1st
13 Rebellion R-One-Toyota   Andrea Belicchi
  Fabio Leimer
  Dominik Kraihamer
LMP1-L 73 DNF DNF
2015   Rebellion Racing 12 Rebellion R-One-AER   Nicolas Prost
  Nick Heidfeld
  Mathias Beche
LMP1 330 23rd 10th
13 Rebellion R-One-AER   Alexandre Imperatori
  Dominik Kraihamer
  Daniel Abt
LMP1 336 18th 9th
2016   Rebellion Racing 12 Rebellion R-One-AER   Nicolas Prost
  Nick Heidfeld
  Nelson Piquet Jr.
LMP1 330 29th 6th
13 Rebellion R-One-AER   Dominik Kraihamer
  Alexandre Imperatori
  Mathéo Tuscher
LMP1 200 DNF DNF
2017   Vaillante Rebellion 13 Oreca 07-Gibson   Nelson Piquet Jr.
  Mathias Beche
  David Heinemeier Hansson
LMP2 364 DSQ DSQ
31 Oreca 07-Gibson   Bruno Senna
  Nicolas Prost
  Julien Canal
LMP2 340 16th 14th
2018   Rebellion Racing 1 Rebellion R13-Gibson   André Lotterer
  Neel Jani
  Bruno Senna
LMP1 375 4th 4th
3 Rebellion R13-Gibson   Mathias Beche
  Gustavo Menezes
  Thomas Laurent
LMP1 376 3rd 3rd
2019   Rebellion Racing 1 Rebellion R13-Gibson   André Lotterer
  Neel Jani
  Bruno Senna
LMP1 376 4th 4th
3 Rebellion R13-Gibson   Thomas Laurent
  Gustavo Menezes
  Nathanaël Berthon
LMP1 370 5th 5th
2020   Rebellion Racing 1 Rebellion R13-Gibson   Gustavo Menezes
  Norman Nato
  Bruno Senna
LMP1 382 2nd 2nd
3 Rebellion R13-Gibson   Nathanaël Berthon
  Louis Deletraz
  Romain Dumas
LMP1 381 4th 4th

Le Mans Series results edit

Le Mans Series results[17]
Year Class Car No. Drivers Races Wins Poles Fast laps Points T.C.
2007 GT2 Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R 94   Jonny Kane
  Andrea Chiesa
  Andrea Belicchi
5 0 0 0 14 6th
2008 LMP2 Lola B08/80-Judd 33   Andrea Belicchi
  Xavier Pompidou
  Steve Zacchia
1 0 0 0 8 7th
GT2 Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R 94   Andrea Chiesa
  Benjamin Leuenberger
  Iradj Alexander
5 0 0 0 11 7th
2009 LMP1 Lola B08/60-Aston Martin 13   Marcel Fässler
  Andrea Belicchi
  Nicolas Prost
5 0 0 0 14 5th
LMP2 Lola B08/80-Judd 33   Xavier Pompidou
  Jonny Kane
  Benjamin Leuenberger
5 1 0 0 24 2nd
2010 LMP1 Lola B10/60-Rebellion 12   Neel Jani
  Nicolas Prost
5 0 0 0 53 3rd
13   Andrea Belicchi
  Jean-Christophe Boullion
  Guy Smith
5 0 1 0 44 5th
2011 LMP1 Lola B10/60-Toyota 12
13
  Neel Jani
  Nicolas Prost
  Andrea Belicchi
  Jean-Christophe Boullion
5 0 2 2 51 1st

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Lola-Toyota for Rebellion Racing in 2011". Lola Group. 3 December 2010. Archived from the original on 21 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Rebellion Racing History". Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Rebellion Teams Up With Peugeot For Its WEC Hypercar Programme – dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  4. ^ Lloyd, Daniel. "Rebellion to Withdraw from Motorsport After Le Mans – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Rebellion Racing To Stop Racing Activities After Le Mans – dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  6. ^ Le Mans Series: Pescarolo team claims LMP1 drivers' title in Portugal Autoweek. 26 September 2011.
  7. ^ Peugeot wins ILMC finale in China Autoweek. 13 November 2011.
  8. ^ Zhuhai 6 hours: Rebellion in top 3 of ILMC 2011 www.lemans.org. 14 November 2011.
  9. ^ LE MANS: Heidfeld Confirmed At Rebellion Speedtv.com. 1 February 2012.
  10. ^ Gary Watkins (23 July 2013). "Rebellion to shelve ALMS challenge". Racer.com.
  11. ^ Smith, Steven Cole (11 November 2013). "Now It's Over". Autoweek: 76–77.
  12. ^ R-ONE: Rebellion Racing to build an LMP1 car in partnership with Oreca News & Media - Rebellion News. 8 June 2013.
  13. ^ "WEC: Rebellion Racing switches to AER turbo engine". Racer.com. 3 February 2015.
  14. ^ "Rebellion LMP1 WEC squad signs Daniel Abt and Alexandre Imperatori". Autosport.com. 25 March 2015.
  15. ^ "Rebellion confirms two-car LMP2 effort for 2017 WEC". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  16. ^ "MICHEL VAILLANT MAKES A GRAND COMEBACK AT LE MANS 24 HOURS WITH MOTUL AND REBELLION RACING". www.rebellion-timepieces.com. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  17. ^ LMS complete results Archived 19 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine wsrp.ic.cz

External links edit