Results:
- 1st win at Petit Le Mans
- 1st win in the American Le Mans Series
- 6th win of the season after Spa, Le Mans,
Silverstone, Sao Paulo and Fuji
Rebellion Racing claimed their first victory
in the American Le Mans Series at Petit Le Mans,
Road Atlanta.
The Lola-Toyota coupé driven by Neel Jani,
Nicolas Prost and Andrea Belicchi claimed
victory in the 1000 miles enduro after
dominating since the early free practices and
qualifying.
The Muscle Milk HPD Honda challenge disappeared
early in the race after the #6 car suffered from
a contact in traffic. The Muscle Milk team was
able to repair the car and rejoin the race but
with fourty five laps deficit over the Rebellion
#12 Lola-Toyota.
From that moment, Neel Jani, Nicolas Prost and
Andrea Belicchi were in a position to control
the race. They maintained a strong pace with
safe driving in traffic. Once again, the car was
extremely reliable and it was a trouble free
race for the #12 Lola-Toyota.
Seven safety car periods in the race prevented
the three drivers from fully extending their
lead over the other prototypes, but they took
the chequered flag with a three lap advantage
over the second placed car, the #055 HPD.
This win is another main achievement for the
Swiss team after securing the FIA Endurance
Trophy for LMP1 Teams just a week ago.
After this win on American soil, Rebellion
Racing has confirmed its position as one of the
best LMP1 teams in World endurance racing.
Coming to race at Petit Le Mans was a gamble.
This success is a sweet tasting reward for the
team that didn't spare any effort and have taken
a big risk, splitting crews, cars and parts
between Asia and America to take its chance at
Petit Le Mans.
The main partners of the team, Rebellion
Timepieces and LEMO Connectors that have made
this challenge possible, are rewarded for all
the support they give to the team.
Toyota Motorsport GmbH are associated with this
great achievement powering the Rebellion Lola
cars with reliable and high performance Toyota
RV8KLM engines. And once again, Michelin's tyres
have helped the team obtain the highest level of
performance coupled with impressive durability
enabling the team to save time in the pits by
triple stinting the tyres.
Neel Jani – Lola-Toyota #12 :
« The start of the race was great for me. I had
a battle with #6 that put a lot of pressure on
me from the beginning. And with the traffic, it
went closer and closer and he passed me during
the first pit stop. We had decided before the
race not to take too many risks. So after the
Muscle Milk car contact in traffic, we continued
to drive as fast as we could until the end but
in a safe way. It's great to win Petit Le Mans.
It's our first win overall this year and it's
nice to realize it here at Road Atlanta !”
Nicolas Prost – Lola-Toyota #12 :
“ Racing in the USA was a whole challenge : the
tracks are really different from European style
circuits. More cars on less wide tracks means
that cars are closer to each other. That's part
of the game. And you have to take care of that
to win. I'm very proud to be part of the team
that won Petit Le Mans. We will keep this for
life.”
Andrea Belicchi – Lola-Toyota #12 :
« My job has been to stay safe through the
traffic. There were a lot of cars on the track
and it was not easy to find a safe path around
them. I received a lot of support from the team
on the radio and it was helpful and encouraging.
It's nice to take the car to the end in this way...
to win Petit Le Mans !”
Bart Hayden – Team Manager of Rebellion Racing :
« This is the second goal we have achieved in
this 3 weeks of overseas campaigning. Committing
to this 3 races in 3 weeks challenge has been a
massive undertaking for all the team. All the
guys are completely focused on that and there
have been no complaints from them. The engineers
and mechanics have produced a fast and reliable
car that allowed us to set a comfortable race
strategy. Our drivers have driven in a really
sensible way. Before the start, we knew that an
incident in the traffic would change the race
and that is what happened.
This is a first win for REBELLION Racing in the
United States, and our first ever overall race
win in endurance racing; it's a superb feeling !
We can now go to Shanghai with no pressure. We
will have a big party there with all the team.
And what about achieving another strong result
in China ?»
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