Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global
Preview

REBELLION Racing heads to Sau Paulo with confidence and optimism

#12 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota: Nicolas Prost, Neel Jani

#12 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota: Nicolas Prost, Neel Jani

Daniel James Smith

The fifth round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, takes place at the Autodromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo on Saturday 15 September.

#12 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota: Nicolas Prost, Neel Jani
#12 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota: Nicolas Prost, Neel Jani

Photo by: Daniel James Smith

Located in Interlagos, the historic 4.309 km circuit is a rollercoaster ride of a track set in a natural amphitheatre. The track is the highest of the year at 800m above sea level, and the only anti-clockwise track on this year’s FIA WEC calendar.

The first outing of REBELLION Racing’s Toyota powered Lola LMP1 cars in Brazil is awaited with high expectations by the team.

REBELLION Racing will be targeting another first place finish amongst the FIA WEC LMP1 privateers, a similar result to the past three FIA WEC rounds.

With only two factory Audis and a single entry from Toyota Racing, a podium finish will be a reasonable objective.

After another strong result at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, REBELLION Racing have extended their lead in the LMP1 Privateers classification to a 37 point margin on Honda powered teams JRM and Strakka Racing.

The driver lineup will remain unchanged as Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost will drive #12 Lola Toyota, Andrea Belicchi and Harold Primat will be at the wheel of the #13 Lola-Toyota.

Neel Jani – Lola-Toyota #12 :
« I drove at Interlagos for the first time in 2006 with Toro Rosso during the free practice session of the Formula One Grand Prix and raced again here for the GT1 championship in 2010. The circuit is good but very demanding because of the altitude which will give an extra advantage to the diesel and hybrid powered cars. We will certainly be a bit more far away behind the factory cars. Our goal is to score good points for the drivers championship – we are still aiming for the third place- and to extend our leading position in the teams classification. The warm conditions might help us because the car seems to run very well when it's hot ! ».

Nicolas Prost – Lola-Toyota #12 :
« I'm coming to race here in Brazil for the first time. Our goal is always the same : be the first privateer team finishing and see where that puts us compared to the factory cars. Once again, traffic will be a key factor : there are a lot of good sequences of turns and up & down and the track is not very wide. The temperature will be hot, the driving will be physically hard and the track will be demanding for the tyres. It might be an interesting race. I like old fashioned tracks and I think that the car will work well at Interlagos !

Andrea Belicchi – Lola-Toyota #13 :
« The track at Interlagos is a very beautiful track. It is one of the most physical of the season. I raced here in 2007 with the official Spyker GT2 for the Mil Mihlias. I have good memories of the track which is very fun to drive. And I love the spirit of Brazilian people who are always happy and positive... a bit like Italian people ! »

Harold Primat – Lola-Toyota # 13 :
« Interlagos is a very fun track with lot of pace, twists and lots of « up & down ». It is very physical especially for long races when you have to drive thirty five laps for a stint. The fact that it turns to the left means that we have to adapt the car to find a specific setup. And we'll have to find the balance between aero and speed. But we can use the basis of the Silverstone setup which was good. And coming to race in Brazil is always a special thing ! »

Bart Hayden, REBELLION Racing Team Manager :
« I’m really looking forward to the Brazilian round of the 2012 FIA WEC. We are in a strong position in the FIA WEC LMP1 Teams Trophy classification and we are determined to deliver another strong result and continue the run of three wins in a row in the FIA WEC LMP1 Team Trophy. Interlagos is a very unique track which presents some unusual challenges; the high altitude location, the undulating surface and the challenging layout all test both the drivers and engineers.»

Source: REBELLION Racing

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Old meets new at Interlagos
Next article Audi R18 embarks on tour around the world starting at Sao Paulo

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global