On the 7th and 8th of March, REBELLION Racing attended the 2010 Le Mans Seriesofficial test days that were held at Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track.
For the first time this season, all of the Swiss team’s drivers were together:Lola-Rebellion # 12 : Marco Andretti - Neel Jani - Nicolas Prost
Lola-Rebellion # 13 : Andrea Belicchi - Jean-Christophe Boullion - Guy Smith
The team was satisfied with the first day of testing. The performance shown by bothLola-Rebellions met the team’s expectations, despite unusual winter weather. Thefresh air and the cold track meant that it wasn’t possible to keep the tyres at optimumtemperature levels. As with all the other teams present, the tire testing program hadto be limited.
This first day of practice allowed each driver to accumulate miles and familiarisethemselves with the Lola B10/60 - Rebellion. Marco Andretti and Guy Smith comingdirectly from the United States to turn their first laps.
Marco Andretti was quickly at ease with the Lola-Rebellion # 12, achieving promisinglap times. "The feeling of the Lola-Rebellion is very close to the Acura LMP2 that Idrove in 2008. I am impressed by the level of the team and the quality of myteammates. I am delighted to share the driving of the No. 12 with Nicolas and Neel.I think we can aim for a good result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans."
As for Guy Smith, he was also very quickly comfortable with the Lola-Rebellion # 13:"The car is bigger and heavier than the Lola I drive in the ALMS. It is well balancedand easy to control. I was favourably impressed with the Rebellion engine. TheREBELLION Racing team is very good and they make you feel at home quickly, it isimportant for my integration into the team for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 8Hours of Paul Ricard. "
In the evening, the team participated in the night test session to validate new lightingsolutions for Le Mans 24 Hours.
On the second day the weather was cold again. Both Lola-Rebellions turned a largenumber of trouble-free laps. The two crews worked through a setup programme toprepare more specifically for the 8 Hours of Paul Ricard.Marco Andretti and Guy Smith continued to learn the car working on suspension andaerodynamic settings.
Nicolas Prost:"We are pleased with the work done at Le Castellet. We are still far from exploitingthe full potential of our two Lola Rebellions. Our driver trio is very homogeneous, bothin terms of feedback and size. And most importantly, we understand each other verywell, which bodes well for races like Le Mans 24 Hours. We still have to work beforerealising all the performance of our cars. But we will start the season with a teamready for the challenge. "
Neel Jani:"Despite the cold conditions this weekend, we managed to find our tyre choice. I ampleased to have Marco in our team. I knew he was a good driver. We now haveconfirmation that we can aim at the highest level with the Lola-Rebellion. "Andrea Belicchi:"I'm happy with what we achieved here at Paul Ricard. We had no technical problemsduring these tests. The engine seems reliable. We are moving in the right direction.We were able to test and validate the tyre choice that we will use for the first races ofthe season. "
Jean-Christophe Boullion:"We made good progress on the car technically both on the set-up and on thecomfort of driving. As always, we would have liked to continue to work one or twomore days on the development of the car. Communication between drivers isexcellent. The two cars experienced the same progression bringing us to solutionsthat are very close to each other. "
The team is satisfied with its two days of testing, with good progress in understandingthe Lola B10-60 - Rebellion and exploitation of its potential. The team feels ready toface their rivals in the opening round of the Le Mans Series (10 and 11 April) at the 8Hours of Paul Ricard.
