Rebellion Racing has confirmed that it will enter a single ORECA 07 in the 2017 North American Endurance Cup.
The IMSA-run championship comprises four of endurance racing’s biggest prizes, including the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Sebring 12 Hours, 6 Hours of The Glen and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
The chosen drivers for Rebellion Racing’s 2017 campaign are Neel Jani, Sebastien Buemi and Nick Heidfeld.
Jani, a Porsche LMP1 works driver and winner of the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, clinched the World Endurance Drivers’ Championship in November.
Buemi, meanwhile, is also a WEC champion with Toyota in 2014, while Heidfeld is best known for his 183 starts in Formula One.
Heidfeld is also no stranger to the Rebellion Racing organisation, having raced with the team five times at Le Mans.
“We had the pleasure of getting to know Rebellion Racing when they competed in the American Le Mans Series and we are delighted to welcome them back to IMSA competition for the 2017 Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup events,” said IMSA president Scott Atherton.
“Rebellion definitely fits the profile for our Prototype class as a world-class, professional prototype race team.”
“We expect the level of competition to be at an all-time high in the Prototype class next year, attracting top teams from North America and Europe, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have Rebellion as part of it.”
As an LMP1 team, Rebellion Racing took part in a handful of IMSA races during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. During that time, the Anglo-Swiss outfit claimed overall honours at Petit Le Mans on two occasions, in addition to podiums at Sebring, Long Beach and Laguna Seca.
Two of the drivers involved in those successes were Jani and Heidfeld.
The team’s reversion back to the LMP2 category for 2017 made possible the switch to a North American programme alongside its planned WEC exploits.
“After our success in the American Le Mans Series races in 2012 and 2013, we always wanted to find a way back to competing in the USA,” said team manager Bart Hayden.
“We are very excited to be able to return with a new prototype and to race in the North American Endurance Cup in 2017. Reuniting Nick with Neel and adding Seb gives us a top line driver line-up and signals our intention which is to compete at the highest level and hopefully to win again in the USA.”
Rebellion Racing will contest the North American Endurance Cup with a number of top LMP2 and Daytona Prototype International teams adhering to the new 2017 regulations.
The four chassis manufacturers for next season are ORECA, Ligier, Riley-Multimatic and Dallara, whilst the three DPi constructors lending their badges to LMP2 machinery are Nissan, Mazda and Cadillac.
The team’s full 2017 plans will be announced in the coming weeks.
