Since 2012, Rebellion Racing has picked up all the FIA WEC Endurance trophies in the LM P1 Private Teams class. That chapter of the story came to a winning close at this year’s 6 Hours of Bahrain, because the team will be moving over to the LM P2 class in 2017. They will be fielding two Oreca 07s and are due to announce their driver line-up sometime soon.

 

2010 - Having previously run under the name Speedy Racing Team Sebah, the Swiss team competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as Rebellion Racing for the first time in 2010. The driver line-up included Guy Smith, 2003 winner for Bentley, and Le Mans rookie Marco Andretti, grandson of Mario (who finished second in 1995). Unfortunately the team’s two Lola coupés didn’t make it to the end of the race.

2011 - Rebellion Racing acquired a Toyota engine. An excellent choice as it proved to be incredibly reliable, helping the team achieve some worthy results, including its first Le Mans top ten finish when Neel Jani, future Porsche world champion, placed sixth with teammates Nicolas Prost and Jeroen Bleekemolen.

2012 - The Lola-Toyota combination reach new heights at Le Mans, finishing fourth, again with Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost at the wheel, this time teamed up with former Formula One driver Nick Heidfeld. Jeroen Bleekemolen, Harold Primat and Guy Smith finished 11th in the second car. At the end of the season, Jani, Prost and Andrea Belicchi triumphed in the Petit Le Mans endurance race (1,000 miles or ten hours) at the Road Atlanta circuit.

2013 - This was the final Le Mans outing for Rebellion Racing’s Lola coupés, as the team announced the development of its own chassis for 2014, in partnership with French constructor Oreca. Cong Fu Cheng, the first Chinese driver to race Le Mans, also became the first Chinese national to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the wheel of an LM P1 prototype, driving for Rebellion Racing. At the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, the Swiss team took its first overall podium place in a World Endurance Championship race (finishing third). Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost enjoyed a second consecutive Petit Le Mans win, this time partnered with Nick Heidfeld. Jani subsequently left Rebellion Racing to join Porsche as a works driver for the German marque’s return to prototype racing.

2014 - For the first Le Mans 24 Hours race with its own chassis, named R-One (Toyota engine), Rebellion Racing equalled its previous Le Mans result, with an overall fourth place for Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche.

2015 - The Rebellion R-One swapped its Toyota engine for an AER set-up. At the age of 18, the latest recruit to the team, Swiss driver Mathéo Tuscher became the youngest WEC class winner at the season-closer, the 6 Hours of Bahrain.

2016 - Son of the three-time Formula One world champion, Nelson Piquet Jr teamed up with Nicolas Prost and Nick Heidfeld at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The trio gave Rebellion Racing its fourth win in five races in the LM P1 Private Teams class. After the 6 Hours of Nürburgring, the fourth of nine rounds in the World Endurance Championship, Rebellion Racing switched to a single-car entry for the rest of the season. Nonetheless, it still managed to dominate the LM P1 Private Teams class, collecting two more trophies in 2016, rewarding the team and its drivers, Alexandre Imperatori and Mathéo Tuscher, both from Switzerland, and Austrian Dominik Kraihamer.

 

Read the first instalment in the Rebellion Racing saga:

Le Mans, Switzerland and endurance (1) - Rebellion Racing's journey

 

Photo: It's lucky 13 for Rebellion Racing and the R-One driven by Mathéo Tuscher, Alexandre Imperatori and Dominik Kraihamer, victors in the LM P1 Private Teams class in the World Endurance Championship in 2016.