Engaged in both Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and Le Mans Series, Rebellion Racing returned from Imola with good results that bode well for the future.

The 6 hours Imola were both the fourth round of ILMC and the third race of the Le Mans Series 2011. With a sixth place finish for the Lola-Toyota (#12) of Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost, Rebellion Racing is now fourth in the standings of the ILMC. With the fifth position of the sister car (#13) of Jean-Christophe Boullion and Andrea Belicchi, the Swiss team have reached the top spot in Teams classification in the Le Mans Series, with two races remaining.

At Imola, after the start, the two Rebellion Lolas were at the front of the battle of petrol powered cars behind Peugeot and Audi. The race would turn in favour of #13 when, two hours from the finish, Neel Jani had to make an unscheduled pit stop to clean his windscreen that was covered with oil from the broken engine of another competitor. Nicolas Prost took the wheel to finish on the heels (17 seconds) of the car Belicchi / Boullion after a great recovery.

Andrea Belicchi, Lola-Toyota #13 : "To be honest, from the beginning to the end, it has been a big, big fight. We had to push all the time and to keep our concentration to achieve this good result. I am very happy to have won here in Italy, close to my house in front of my familly, my friends and the fans."

Neel Jani, Lola-Toyota #12 : "The #13 did a great job. They were just behind us and it was their opportunity and they took it. If we are one behind the other fighting for the first place, it shows that all the team have done their job!"

Bart Hayden, REBELLION Racing Team Manager : "Since the beginning of the season we’ve had the fastest petrol LMP car, but now we have proved twice in two races to be the best petrol team."

Remember that although both Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyotas are entered in the Le Mans Series, only that of Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost scores points in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, in the next race on the 11^th September at Silverstone.

Jean-Philippe Doret

(Source: Rebellion Racing press information)

Photo : CIRCUIT ENZO E DINO FERRARI (IMOLA, ITALY), 6 HOURS OF IMOLA, RACE, 3 JULY 2011. Rebellion Racing (here the #13 of Belicchi/Boullion) in the top 5 behind the Diesels of Peugeot and Audi (here the #2 of Kristensen/McNish).