HERITAGE

Speedy Racing enters the Le Mans Series with Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R. Alexandre Pesci and Hugh Hayden, founder of Sebah Racing, meet in Silverstone, at the final round of the 2007 Le Mans Series, to discuss a possible union between Speedy Racing and Sebah Racing and entering the competition with a LMP2 prototype the following year.

The Lola Coupé Judd LMP2 is the first LMP2 closed prototype. The Speedy Racing Team Sebah comes into being as a result from an association between Speedy Racing and Sebah Racing. The team enters that season the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a Lola Coupé Judd LMP2. It completes its first race with a first podium at the 1000 Kilometres of Catalunya (Barcelona), the opening round of the 2008 Le Mans Series.

The Speedy Racing Team Sebah competes in the Le Mans Series and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in both the LMP1 and LMP2 categories. The team got second place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 category. Furthermore, it was the first team to achieve podium success in the same race in both categories at the 1000 km of Silverstone.

In 2010, the Speedy Racing Team Sebah changes its name and becomes Rebellion Racing. Using Judd as a base, the Rebellion engine powers that season both REBELLION Racing’s Lolas at the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Partnership agreement with Toyota. Participation in the Le Mans Series, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC). Le Mans Series LMP1 Team Champions, first in the LMP1 Privateer/Petrol category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Third place in the ILMC (behind Peugeot and Audi, but ahead of Aston Martin).

On 1 February 2012, it was announced that German driver Nick Heidfeld would drive a Rebellion Lola-Toyota in select rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Heidfeld will share the wheel of the Anglo-Swiss squad’s No. 12 LMP1 entry with Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost. Rebellion Racing entered the 2012 Petit Le Mans to attempt to score an overall victory at the race since Audi chose to not enter the race. After early battling with Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, the latter crashed when attempting to pass a GT car, allowing Rebellion to lead the rest of the race and win Petit Le Mans.

Rebellion Racing participated in both the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship season and 2013 American Le Mans Series season. But in July, midway through the season, the team decided to end its ALMS programme and focus on the WEC. After that, it only contested the Petit Le Mans series finale at Road Atlanta in October. Rebellion Racing took their second consecutive overall victory at Petit Le Mans, after Muscle Milk Pickett Racing again retired halfway through the race.

On 8 June 2013, Rebellion confirmed they have entered a partnership with Oreca to design and build their own LMP1 car, the Rebellion R-One. The car debuted at the 2014 Spa 6 Hours in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship and continues to use Toyota engines. Rebellion Racing finishes fourth at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (first in the LMP1 Privateer category). Third world title in the FIA WEC in the LMP1 Privateer category.

On 3 February 2015, Rebellion Racing announced a new engine partnership for the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship season. The Rebellion R-One LMP-1 cars will be powered by twin-turbo engines from Advanced Engine Research. On 25 March 2015, it was announced that Alexandre Imperatori and Daniel Abt had signed up with the team to pilot the squad’s second car alongside Dominik Kraihamer. Rebellion Racing and their drivers Mathias Beche and Nicolas Prost won the trophies for LMP1 class private entries despite not participating in the first two rounds of the championship. The championships were Rebellion’s fourth and Beche and Prost’s second consecutive trophy titles respectively.

The Rebellion R-One LMP1 cars continued to be powered by AER P60 V6 GDI twin-turbo engines from Advanced Engine Research while also using Dunlop tyres after previously using Michelin tyres. Their driver line-up would be Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost and Nelson Piquet Jr.with Mathias Beche in round 4 in the #12 entry car. The #13 entry car’s drivers would be Dominik Kraihamer, Alexandre Imperatori and Mathéo Tuscher.

After a four-year hiatus, Rebellion Racing participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship which started at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January. The team also decided to switch to the LMP2-class in the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship. Rebellion Racing and Editions Graton join their forces to bring back Michel Vaillant to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the FIA WEC. They enter the race in the LMP2 category under the name of Vaillante REBELLION. It is a year of success as the team achieves the podium with both of its cars at the last round of the 2017 FIA WEC, becoming the 2017 FIA World Endurance Champions in the LMP2 category.

In 2018 the WEC switched to a winter calendar. Rebellion Racing returned to the LMP1 class with the new Rebellion R13 prototype, and two full season entries. They competed in both the 2018 and 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, achieving a 3rd place in the 2018 edition. This season the team also achieved their first overall win in the WEC at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, after the two Toyota cars got disqualified after the race. The team finished 2nd in the teams’ championship.

With this strong partnership, Rebellion and Rocketbyz created a 360 communication. The first Art Cars in the history of the LMP1 category and the Rebellion Timepieces limited edition Re-Volt by Rocketbyz are unveiled during the biggest motorsport event in the world. From this partnership are born crazy activations with a rebellious DNA. The international artist of the year has put all his knowhow and his inimitable touch in favor of unique artworks.

The team took their first “on track” victory at the 4 hours of Shangai, with the #1 car qualifying in 1st place and winning the race, becoming the first privateer team to do so in the WEC’s history. The same happened at that year’s Lone Star Le Mans, where the team took their last win. Rebellion Williams Esport’s #1 LMP2 crew wins the first edition of the virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans. The virtual event featured 50 crews and 200 drivers from around the world. Rebellion Racing’s last race was that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, the second to last race on the calendar, after which the team retired from WEC championship.

The 42nd edition of the Dakar Rally started in Jeddah on January 5th, 2020. Twelve stages later, after defeating the traps and overcoming the effort of the most demanding rally raid in the world, Alexandre Pesci and his co-driver Stephan Kuhni rallied to the finish in Qiddiya, near the capital of Saudi Arabia Riyadh. A great adventure for this crew with no experience in rally raid, and who had to, day after day, learn and adapt to the most extreme conditions. The buggy REBELLION DXX, perfectly prepared in the workshops RD Limited (Romain Dumas’s team), drove more than 7800 km. The assistance led by the RD Limited mechanics and engineers made a major contribution to keeping the buggy in good condition in order to reach the finish line of each stage.

The 2021 edition of the Dakar was the year of resilience for the Rebells. After a promising first stage, the collision suffered by Romain Dumas’ buggy during the second stage had consequences on the whole competition. After one good performance after the other, and despite mechanical problems during the penultimate stage, his buggy finished the race and was ranked 43rd overall. Constant during all the events, the 9th stage put an end to the adventure for Alexandre Pesci after an engine failure that led to a series of rollovers. The chassis of the buggy was affected and the crew which was 42nd in the general ranking is then forced to abandon.

The 2022 edition of the Dakar was particularly colorful for Rebellion; 48 hours before the start of the event, Alexandre Pesci’s DDX buggy caught fire and burned down. From then on, a formidable and impromptu chain of solidarity between drivers was set up. Romain Dumas gives the keys of his car to Alexandre Pesci. Nasser Al-Attiyah, Rebellion’s ambassador, decides to lend his Toyota to Romain Dumas. The whole Rebellion team could then take the start of the rally-raid. The twists and turns are not over, at the end of the 3rd stage, Romain Dumas is forced to abandon the race because of an unsolvable gearbox problem. Alexandre Pesci shows perseverance and thanks to his regularity, he reached his goal, to finish the 44th Dakar, and takes the 53rd place in the general classification. Master of his art, the “desert fox” Nasser Al-Attiyah, supported by his co-driver Matthieu Baumel, won with brio this 44th edition of the Dakar.