REBELLION Racing will compete in the last Petit Le Mans of the American Le Mans Series era with the chance of securing a back to back overall win. REBELLION Racing will make its third appearance at the 1000 mile race of Petit Le Mans. The Swiss team won the race in 2012 with the driving trio of Andrea Belicchi, Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost after 2011’s debut where REBELLION Racing secured fifth place overall and best Rookie team.
The 16th edition of Petit Le Mans at the Road Atlanta circuit will be a special one as it will mark the final race in the history of the American Le Mans Series with the powerful LM P1 prototypes, before the birth of the US based United SportsCar Championship in 2014.
The Lola-Toyota LMP1 will be driven by the reunited “3N” trio with Nick Neidfeld, Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost.
Neel Jani is back with REBELLION Racing for his last race with the Swiss team that he joined in 2009.
Neel Jani : “I’m looking forward to having my farewell race with REBELLION Racing in a such a great event, it is nice to be back here with the team I was driving for in the last five years.
I would love to win again the Petit Le Mans particularly because this will be the last race of the American Le Mans Series history.
I like racing in the USA, the American audience is always large and passionate. The atmosphere is always special, especially at Petit Le Mans.
I am expecting a strong battle with the Pickett Racing Muscle Milk car, as we had in Laguna. I still consider the Laguna Seca race fight against them as one of the best amongst the ones I’ve had in my racing career.
I am also thankful to Porsche that I could start testing the 2014 car with them and REBELLION Racing to be able to finish the ALMS season with them. It is a great experience to drive both cars in a short time period.”
Nick Heidfeld : “It’s great to be racing back in the US were we had good racing earlier this season.
Road Atlanta is a new circuit for me, and Petit Le Mans is a great event.
I really like the track, demanding and challenging with a lot of up and down and some blind spots that make the track not easy to learn. We had no problem during pre-event testing and we achieved a good pace.
I am very much looking forward to the challenge of this race as it will be a long and not an easy one, especially with traffic management !
In ALMS, the race strategy is different from FIA WEC. Muscle Milk Pickett Racing have more experience, but our team have learned and improved a lot in recent races here in the US earlier this year.
I am here to target the win, I would really want to bring back home the winners trophy of the last ALMS race !”
Nicolas Prost : “I am happy to be back at Road Atlanta. We quickly found a good pace in pre-event testing and we are pleased with the balance of the car, providing us confidence for the rest of the week.
As usual, Petit Le Mans will be a real challenge, the Muscle Milk car is always good in race conditions, traffic is an important element that could change the race and weather may be a key element this year.
I really like this circuit and the ambiance in the ALMS event and the atmosphere with the American fans.
Aiming for a back to back win is a nice feeling, especially when you talk about an overall one.
I think that I would find some room for a second Petit Le Mans winner trophy next to last year’s one !”
Bart Hayden, REBELLION Racing Team Manager : “Our target is clear, we are here to race to repeat last year’s overall win. We are confident with our ability to be competitive and we have experience from the past races at Road Atlanta. This year is the unique opportunity to leave our name in the American Le Mans Series record book to be the winner of the last race of the series era. The team is 100% prepared and focused on this event.
Our pace was satisfying during pre-event testing and we ran trouble-free.
The race will be tough as we are expecting strong opposition from the Muscle Milk Pickett Racing and Dyson Racing teams.
The weather could be challenging as forecasts predict rain on Thursday and raceday.
This race will be the last one with us for Neel, for all we have shared in the past five years together, a win would be the perfect reward for all of us.”