Motorsport: Swiss superteam at Daytona
The Swiss-flagged Rebellion sports car team is planning the big coup. Starting at the 24 Hours of Daytona next January, Neel Jani, Sébastien Buemi and Nick Heidfeld will form a Swiss super trio in U.S. endurance races. Already getting all three Swiss world champions in one picture is difficult. At the vernissage of the book "Les Suisses au Mans [...]
To get all three Swiss world champions in one picture already is difficult. At the vernissage of the book "Les Suisses au Mans 2016" there was this rare opportunity. On this occasion, those responsible at Rebellion Racing, a sports car team financed by Lausanne industrialist Alexandre Pesci, surprised the motorsport scene with a bombshell: all three Swiss endurance world champions want to start for Rebellion in 2017!
Five times in a row since 2012, the Swiss-flagged team from England has won the FIA Trophy for LMP1 privateer teams. The premier class is a thing of the past for Rebellion; the next and tenth season will see the Rebellion Racing Team tackle the LMP2 class with new Oreca sports cars. In the World Endurance Championship (WEC), there is high-level competition among private teams with top drivers. In the IMSA Championship in the USA, the LMP2 cars and the so-called Daytona Prototypes decide the overall victories among themselves.
Four endurance races next season
Rebellion continues to compete with two cars in the WEC and with a super team in the Endurance Cup within the IMSA series consisting of the four classic endurance races at Daytona (24h), Sebring (12h), Watkins Glen (6h) and Road Atlanta ("Petit Le Mans," 1000 miles). Newly crowned World Champion Neel Jani, his predecessor Sébastien Buemi (2014) and ex-GP driver Nick Heidfeld form the super trio at Daytona and Sebring, Marcel Fässler, the first Swiss automobile World Champion of 2012, will possibly join them at Watkins Glen in July if Audi gives him the green light. Buemi and Jani have already received the go-ahead from Toyota and Porsche.
An appealing opportunity for world champion Neel Jani
For Fässler and Jani, Rebellion was the springboard to recommend themselves to their current employers and become a factory driver, for Heidfeld an attractive occupation alongside Formula E over the past two years. Now they are giving something back to Pesci. "For me, the WEC with Porsche is still a priority, of course," emphasizes newly crowned world champion Neel Jani. "But this chance to race with a top car in such a strong lineup at Daytona and Sebring is very appealing. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing this. It would be great to win at one of these classic races after Le Mans and the world championship."
www.rebellion-racing.com
Photos: Peter Wyss, Archive
