Second place LMP1 Privateer for REBELLION Racing at Shanghai

The 6 Hours of Shanghai, eigth round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship started well for the #13 Rebellion R-One AER. Alexandre Imperatori, Domink Krahaimer and Mathéo Tuscher were strong leaders of the LMP1 Privateers and were eyeing a strong finish overall.Close to the three hour mark their race changed for the worse. The #13 Rebellion R-One developed a misfire and had to pit to replace the spark plugs thus losing their leading position in the LMP1 Privateer. After 8 minutes and 44 seconds in the pits the #13 Rebellion R-One rejoined the race, 4 laps down to the #4 ByKolles car, the new LMP1 Privateer leader.

 Alexandre Imperatori, Domink Krahaimer and Mathéo Tuscher pushed hard and recovered nearly 3 laps over the #4 ByKolles car when an injector failure spoiled the efforts of the Swiss squad an hour from the end of the race. Once again the team managed to fix the problem and send the car back on track to receive the chequered flag.

After the 6 hours of Shanghai race, the #13 Rebellion R-One AER finished in second place of the LMP1 Privateers.The winning streak of the Swiss team ended today after more than a year of continuous LMP1 Privateer wins over the 2015 and 2016 seasons for a total of 10 wins in a row.The team secured the championship win after last race in Fuji so the result from today’s race will have no impact on the #13 Rebellion R-One standings in both the team and drivers classifications.

It’s a disappointing end to the weekend for REBELLION Racing as the car showed again strong pace throughout the sessions and the team went into the race with high expectations.The next race for REBELLION Racing will be the 6 Hours of Bahrain on the 19th of November. A win in the Gulf would be the right way to end the season and the successful current LMP1 era of the team as the Rebellion R-One LMP1 will start its last race in Bahrain. As announced at the beginning of last month the team will move to LMP2 in 2017.

Bart Hayden - REBELLION Racing Team Manager : “During the race in Shanghai today, we had to pit the car a couple of extra times, first to replace the spark plugs and later a fuel injector, so those stops dropped us out of contention for a higher finishing position. On both occasions we got the car back out and at one stage, just before the injector problem, I thought that we might actually re-catch the ByKolles car, but it wasn’t to be. When our car was running, the pace was good and the drivers and crew did a solid job. We’re looking forward to the season finale in Bahrain in a couple of weeks from now.”


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