Jean-Christophe Boullion and Andrea Belicchi with the Lola-Toyota #13 finished second at the last round of the Le Mans Series championship in Estoril after a sprint race of 6 hours.
With this result, REBELLION Racing wins the 2011 LMP1 Teams’ Le Mans Series championship.Jean-Christophe Boullion and Andrea Belicchi are vice-champion of the 2011 LMP1 Drivers’ Le Mans Series championship.
Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani with the Lola-Toyota #12 have widely contributed to the success of the team all season long, the two drivers of the Lola-Toyota #12 faced a more difficult race in Estoril. Due to reduced oil pressure in the gear box, car #12 had to stop more than anhour for repairs, just half an hour after the start of the race. Finishing the race in 3rd position of the LMP1 classification, the two drivers never gave up, sucessively setting the fastest laptimes of the race (the fastest by Neel Jani on their Lap 96 with a time of 1'30''702).
For the last Le Mans Series championship with the most powerful prototypes, REBELLION Racing won two of the three trophies to win in the LMP1 category the Manufacturers’ Championship for Lola-Toyota and Teams Championship as well.
Bart Hayden, REBELLION Racing Team Manager« REBELLION Racing have been on an evolving journey since those earlydays in 2008 and to land the LMP1 Teams’ Championship here in Estoril isjust reward for the immense effort, contribution, dedication and determinationof each and every member of our Team. When we entered into ourpartnership with Toyota Motorsport GmbH we took a significant step forward.Michelin have been an invaluable partner for us and our cars have benefittedfrom using their tyres. This Championship success closes in a fantastic waythe chapter of REBELLION Racing's Le Mans Series history. Before we looktowards next season, the team will now fly to Atlanta for Petit Le Mans totarget 3rd place in the Teams’ ILMC championship. »
Alexandre Pesci - REBELLION Racing Team Principal« REBELLION Racing is the first Swiss team to win the Le Mans SeriesChampionship. I'm very proud to offer this title to Switerland. I want to thankour partners at Lola Cars, Toyota Motorsport GmbH and Michelin for theirefforts and support during this fantastic season.».
Jean-Christophe Boullion, Lola-Toyota #13« I took a lot of fun fighting so hard during this race. It's a pity that we lost theDrivers championship when we were leading by 3 seconds only 45 minutesbefore the end of the race. It's shows the harshness of the race. This season,the Team finished first petrol car in Le Mans and won the Teams andManufacturer LMS championships. All the team can be satisfied and proud ofthe result. I hope that next year we could have a Drivers’ championship to addto that too! »
Andrea Belicchi, Lola-Toyota #13« We experienced this week-end a hard but beautiful fight ! Our race wentwell. The team has done a good job and we are all rewarded by the two LMSchampionships we won.»
Nicolas Prost, Lola-Toyota #12« It's a great disappointment for me. We are the fastest car of the LMSchampionship but this season, we have had some issues in the races thathave stopped us getting the results that our pace deserved. Because of that,we let escape some good results this season. To win a race, we need to betrouble free. Congratulation to Pescarolo Team for winning the race. »
Neel Jani, Lola-Toyota #12« We had the right pace to win but not the reliable car we need too. For me it’sa shame that it was our car not #13 that had the problem. Congratulation toour team who won the Teams and Manufacturer LMS championships! See youin Atlanta. »
