REBELLION Racing on the third step of the 6 Hours of Fuji podium

Following the Silverstone round last September, Team REBELLION Racing participated this weekend in the second round of the 2019-2020 season of the FIA ??World Endurance Championship with one car entered in LMP1 class.

After having worked hard for this second meeting, the Team achieved good performances in free practice with the second best lap times of the first two sessions. The qualifying session ended with the third chrono overall for Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato. Bruno Senna was the first driver to take the wheel of the REBELLION car for these six hours of racing. From the first lap, the Brazilian driver extricated himself from the traffic and came in second place. He struggled to keep his position against Kamui Kobayashi’s Toyota Hybrid car N. 7. At the half-hour race, despite a good resistance, the car N. 1 was back P3. Thanks to an excellent pace, Bruno Senna managed to widen the gap with the non-Hybrid cars and to consolidate his place synonymous with podium. After 1:30 of race, Norman Nato entered the track. For his first participation in Fuji, the French driver quickly took the pace of his teammate and maintained the position of the car in the standings. Gustavo Menezes was the last to take the stint at 3:30 of race. The American driver crossed the finish line P3 after driving nearly 2:30.

Efficient on the track and in the pit lane, the Team could not achieve a better performance. Despite the Success Handicap set up by the WEC, the gap was still too significant and the REBELLION R-13 car ended the race to two laps from the Toyota Hybrid cars.

Next meeting on November 10th for the 4 Hours of Shanghai! The Rebells still count on your support throughout the season!
“We are very proud of our performance in Fuji. I want to congratulate the whole Team and the drivers who did an incredible job, it was a perfect race. We could not do better than this result. The Toyota Hybrids, despite the Success Ballast, still have an advantage over non-Hybrids by winning two laps ahead from our car. We will still maintain the pressure with the perseverance and professionalism that characterizes Team REBELLION Racing.”

Alexandre Pesci, President and Owner of REBELLION Racing
“It was a good day concluded by a podium. For sure, we wanted more had a couple of fights with the Toyotas but it was not enough to really challenge them. Hopefully in Shanghai we will be stronger on track and we will fight against the Hybrid cars. Let’s keep pushing and we take this trophy home with the smile!”

Bruno Senna, R-13 N. 1 driver
“Obviously, it was a good weekend, it is always great to go home with a podium. We did not know where we were until the qualifying session, and we were quite disappointed of our performance in comparison to the Toyotas. But, I am very happy with the result of the race and our performance. The engineers did a great job to get an amazing car. All the boys did a great job driving. Now we will keep working, there is more to be made and obviously there will be a little more Success Ballast in Shanghai. I am looking forward to seeing what result we can achieve together. Let’s keep the momentum to China!”

Gustavo Menezes, R-13 N. 1 driver
“First podium with the Team and in LMP1! Despite this huge pleasure I am a little bit disappointed because we still lack performance. We progressed a lot in the race but there is still work to do even though we have already corrected many improvements since Silverstone. It is a positive weekend and I look forward to continuing on this good momentum in Shanghai!”