Jeroen Bleekemolen is carrying on a rich tradition in one of the Netherlands most prominent racing families. His father Michael Bleekemolen started a Grand Prix for ATS in 1978 and also finished runner up to one of Jeroen's Le Mans team mates fathers, Alain Prost, in the 1979 European F3 Championship. Now, Jereon is team mate with Alain's son Nico, bringing the racing traditions of two families full circle. As Jeroen expressed to us, he is enjoying his re-acquaintance with LMP1 machinery.
"It is great to be back in an LMP1 car and especially a Lola because they are great cars to drive and I was really happy with the way the car was handling at the test day and the way we can use the grip," said Jereon. " So far it has been a really positive experience together."
Bleekemolen has previous experience of Lola designed race cars after spending three seasons driving the Lola A1 GP car between 2005-2008. However, it was only last autumn that his deal to race this season with Rebellion at Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans began to form.
"It was at the end of last year when I was looking at Le Mans and I had my programme for 2011 pretty much sorted but I was still trying to see what was the best option for Le Mans and. I got into contact with Alex (Pesci - team owner) at Rebellion Racing and it all came together pretty quickly. I think Rebellion have great potential and I know that Lola and Toyota will provide the tools for the team to show its capabilities."
Jeroen is very much among friends at Rebellion Lola-Toyota, as his team mates Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost travelled the world with him in their A1 GP days. Will this ensure a tight and close knit working ethic within the #12 Rebellion Lola-Toyota camp?
"Yes, it is great working with Neel and Nico. For the first time we are actually working together because before we were competing against each other in A1 GP . It's really nice to drive the same car and being out on the same track in the same circumstances so you can learn from each other and who is better in which area. It is also a lot of fun and they are really good guys to work with as well."
