REBELLION RACING ENDS THE SEASON WITH A NEW 1-2 LMP1

Securing their eighth LMP1-L win in eight races this season at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, REBELLION Racing achieves a “full house” in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship.
For their first year of racing in the FIA WEC, the REBELION R-One Toyota cars are undefeated in the LMP1-L class. With seven class wins, seven class Pole positions, four 1-2 in class and a fourth place overall at Le Mans 24 Hours, the first chapter of the Rebellion R-One Toyota story is fully positive (REBELLION Racing secured the class win and class pole position at the opening round at Silverstone with the Lola B12/60 Toyota).

At the end of a 6 Hours of Sao Paulo race full of drama, the Rebellion R-One Toyota #13 and #12 secured a new 1-2 LMP1-L class win, but their final overall classification reflected some difficulties encountered during the race.
Starting in P7 and P8 positions, both Rebellion R-One Toyotas #12 and #13 lost time through technical issues, a gear shifting problem for the #12 and brake problem for the #13. Both the cars were forced to spend time in the garage to fix the issues. These stops slowed the advance of both the Rebellion R-One Toyota cars but without affecting the outcome of the race.
The 2014 6 Hours of Sao Paulo was a testing one for the REBELLION Racing team crew, but they stuck with the job and got both cars to the chequered flag again.

Nicolas Prost – Rebellion R-One Toyota #12
«We had a very good pace compared to our sister car. We were obviously quicker, so I think we would have taken the win quite easily. But we had a technical problem which is a bit disappointing. We would have liked to have finished the season with a win, but had to settle for second. »

Mathias Beche – Rebellion R-One Toyota #12
« We can be proud of what we have achieved this year with our new car. Sure, we had some reliability problems this race, but they are not representative of the huge improvement we made on the R-One this year. For me, it was a great pleasure to share the driving seat with Nico and Nick. I learnt a lot. I’m really looking forward to the next step of the car.»

Nick Heidfeld– Rebellion R-One Toyota #12
« It was a quite emotional race today. First of all, it was the last of the season, then there was the huge crash of Mark (I hope we will have more good news soon), and it was the last race of Tom Kristensen who was the most successful driver in Le Mans and in sport cars. It was nice to see him on the podium, a good way to end his career. »

Andrea Belicchi – Rebellion R-One Toyota #13
« We had a lot of difficulties with the new car until Le Mans this year and then we grew together more and built up a very good team and spirit. I hope that we can race together again next year with Fabio and Dodo. I am happy to have won three races this year with them. »

Fabio Leimer – Rebellion R-One Toyota #13
«It was a difficult race, but in the end we got the win. In my last stint, I was not very confident with the brakes and especially on this track. I also lost the clutch, so the safety car at the end helped us in avoiding a last splash and dash. It might have been difficult to restart the car after another pitstop!»

Dominik Kraihamer – Rebellion R-One Toyota #13
« The race was hard for me as I was a bit sick but I can be satisfied with my double stint. It was a good season for me at REBELLION Racing. I want to thank all the guys in the team for all their hard work. »

Bart Hayden – REBELLION Racing Team Manager
« 2014 has been one of the hardest seasons in terms of workload and management that we have experienced as a team. The start of the season required a super-human effort from everyone to get the new cars ready and the reward for that came almost immediately when we finished fourth overall with the Rebellion R-One car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the second half of the season, during the fly-away races, we’ve been able to learn more and more about the R-One cars and at each event we’ve moved forward. In Sao Paulo we had some technical issues, but we fixed them and kept our 100% record for the year of winning the LMP1-L class. It’s an achievement that the whole team can be proud of. We want to be closer next year to the factory Hybrid cars, so we will work hard over the winter and plan to come back even stronger. »