No third victory at Petit Le Mans for REBELLION Racing, forced to abandon the race following a shock with another car and a runway exit of the Oreca 07 #13 in the sixth hour.
After four serious free practices to increase the final details of the car and the cohesion of this unprecedented crew, the qualifying session confirmed the intentions of the team by starting fourth in the starting grid.
11:05 am local time, Petit Le Mans starts on the Road Atlanta circuit. From the first moment, a fierce struggle takes place in this category Prototype. Mathias Beche is the first to start on the American track. The Swiss driver is replaced by the newcomer Gustavo Menezes. Authors of good relays, the team displayed a strong ambition to finish the season IMSA 2017 in the best way.
In the 7th hour of race, while the team struggled for the first position, the Oreca 07, driven by Nick Heidfeld had a shock with the PC #38. This race event comes to an end to this last round of the IMSA season and prevents the team from claiming a third victory at Road Atlanta.
The 2017 United Sportscar Championship ends unexpectedly for REBELLION Racing, which has shown courage and perseverance this season in America.
Bart Hayden, Team manager:
“The 20th edition of the Petit Le Mans showed how close the racing in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship is. With our #13 Rebellion Racing Oreca 07 LMP2 car, we were in a tight battle with the other Prototype class cars and we lead the race for some of the time. It was fun and exciting to be involved in the battle for the lead, making strategy calls during the Full Course Yellows and trying to be slick with our operations in the pits. Unfortunately, the collision that we had with the PC car spun our car off and into the wall and the damage was too much to repair in time before the end of the race, so we had to retire. It’s disappointing to end the race like that, but we showed that we were competitive and we are confident that we would have been part of the lead group at the end if we had managed to keep going.”
Nick Heidfeld:
“It’s very unfortunate and disappointing to end the race like this. I exited T1 and the next thing I felt was a hard impact. I hit a car that exited the pit lane which was in a dead angle and totally invisible to me. This unfortunately ended the race for both of us. Even though I couldn’t do anything to avoid the incident I am sorry for the team as till then we were going strong.”
Mathias Beche:
“I was careful in my first stints with tricky very condition, just wanted to keep the car close to the lead and in a decent pace and survive while there was many crashes on track. Gustavo showed latter we had the speed to fight for a top spot. Racing in America is something just amazing as a driver but also for the team, you enjoy and learn so much from it. Unfortunately it ended up to quickly. Really hope to be back here soon!”