After today’s qualifying session for the 2014 FIA WEC 6 Hours of Fuji race, Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche secured the third Pole position of the season in the LMP1-L class for #12 Rebellion R-One Toyota. They achieved an average lap time of 1:31.751 and a fastest lap of 1:30.403.
The sister Rebellion R-One Toyota #13 car driven by Andrea Belicchi and Fabio Leimer achieved an average lap time of 1:32.245 and a best lap of 1:31.092.
In so doing, the two Rebellion R-One Toyota cars will start tomorrow’s race from the fourth row. Once again the starting positions for the #12 and #13 cars will promise an exciting race for both of REBELLION Racing’s R-One cars.
The race will start on Sunday 12th October at 11 am local time (3 am GMT).
Nick Heidfeld – Rebellion R-One Toyota #12
“ We are not as close to the factory cars as we would expect. We could have been a bit faster, but Mathias suffered from the same throttle problem we had during the third free practice. Due to this problem none of us was able to drive this morning with new tyres and low fuel. In these circumstances I think we have done a good job. »
Mathias Beche – Rebellion R-One Toyota #12
“ This morning, we could not drive in FP3. We almost just did two laps straight on quali. During my first I couldn’t warm the tyres and in my second lap I had the same problem with the throttle as in free practice : the engine cut off. That incident caused the red flag. I’m quite confident with the mechanics. They’re working hard and I know we will not have this problem again during the race. It’s tough and nice now because the sister car is quite close. They give us an extra challenge. We have to push so it’s interesting. I hope we’ll have a nice race together tomorrow.”
Andrea Belicchi – Rebellion R-One Toyota #13
“Qualifying was not so good because we had a problem with the failure of a throttle sensor. I was completing my first lap with the new tyres when I had the problem so I had to slow down and reset everything. Then all the system was working and I did my two laps but I couldn’t do more because the fuel load was just enough for three laps so we were really at the limit.»
Fabio Leimer – Rebellion R-One Toyota #13
« I was out as the second driver on car #13. Unfortunately in turn one, I braked really late and hard. The rear wheels were locking and then I completely lost the car. The front and the left side of the front bodywork of the car were damaged with a contact with the wall. We are still learning the car and I don’t have so much experience with it, I wanted to push a little more in quali. At the end, it was my mistake. Anyway, for me, for sure, it’s not perfect but it is how it is. I have to do the best things to be faster than car #12. And that the same for Andrea and for Dodo. So at the end we have to take every thing out and try to do at 100 %.»
Bart Hayden – Rebellion Racing Team Manager
« It’s always nice to see our two cars together on the same row on the grid. The pace of cars #12 and #13 are closer together. And as we saw today, sometimes when you are pushing hard you go over the limit, but our drivers are racers and they know what we are expecting from them. We are putting a lot of effort in to advance the cars and sometimes that creates issues like we had today. It’s part of the development work. I’m confident that the team will prepare two reliable cars for tomorrow’s race. »