#020 Rebellion

Last update: October 18, 2025

In 2008, Hugh Hayden and Alexandre Pesci joined forces to create Speedy Racing Team Sebah, which was to become Rebellion. An up-market watch maker, but now also a serious racing team that would fight the big brands such as Audi, Porsche, Toyota.

That Swiss team before Rebellion

Before that, I have a look at Swiss Spirit. That other Swiss racing team, founded by Serge Saulnier, that raced at Le Mans just before Speedy Racing Team Sebah did. The model cars share the same shelf in my show case, so why not in this overview?

2006 Le Mans 24h, Courage LC70 – Judd. This new full P1 LC70 car from Swiss Spirit used a Judd engine while the factory cars were powered by Mugen. They however used the same type of gearbox which was the weak point and this car also failed to finish.
#5 Harold Primat (CH ) / Marcel Fässler (CH) / Philipp Peter (A) – DNF
Swiss Spirit Courage LC 70 – 5.0 liter Judd GV5 V10 72º, approx. 600 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon + aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. #5

• SPARK S0139 (resin)

---

• SPARK S0425 (resin)

---

Speedy Racing & Team Sebah

2008 Le Mans 24h, Lola B08/80 – Judd. The first combined effort from Speedy and Sebah. They raced the P2 Lola with Judd V8 engine. The car matched the speed of the Porsche Spyders throughout the season, but never won. At Le Mans it crashed.
#33 Andrea Bellichi (I) / Xavier Pompidou (F) / Steve Zacchia (CH) – DNF
Lola B08/80 – 3.4 liter Judd DB V8 90°, approx. 510 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 825 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. #HU01

• SPARK S1440 (resin)

---

2009 Le Mans 24h, Lola B08/60. In 2008, Jan Charouz built a V12 engine from the Aston Martin DBR9 in the new Lola B08/60 chassis and achieved some fine results. In 2009, Speedy Racing Team Sebah had taken over the car and entered it for Le Mans with support of Rebellion, it finished 14th. The team also entered a Lola in LMP2, that finished even higher: 12th and 2nd in class.
#13  Andrea Belicchi (I) / Nicolas Prost (F) / Neel Jani (CH) – 14th / 12th LMP1
Speedy Sebah Lola B08/60 – 6.0 liter Aston Martin DBR V12, approximately. 650 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. #HU01

SPARK S1444 (resin)

---

Rebellion – Lola Chassis

2010 Le Mans 24h, Lola B10/60 – Judd. For 2010, Hayden and Alexandre Pesci decided to rename Speedy Racing Team Sebah to Rebellion Racing. The team entered 2 new Lola-Judds. The #12 car was driven by Swiss Neel Jani and two drivers whose families have a great name in racing: Nicolas Prost and Marco Andretti. After a small collision with a GT2 car, the gearbox suffered from an oil leak. Despite some repairs, this caused the car to retire when it lost drive after just over 12 hours racing. The #13 car crashed.
#12 Neel Jani (CH) / Nicolas Prost (F) / Marco Andretti (USA) – DNF
Lola B10/60 – 5.5 liter Judd GV5.5 V10 72º, approx. 625 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 910 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. B09/80 #HU01

• SPARK S2527 (resin)

---

2011 Le Mans 24h, Lola B10/65 – Toyota. Swiss Rebellion Racing entered two beautiful Lola’s last year, equipped with the well known V10 Judd engine. In the new rule only 3.4 liter engines were allowed. The Rebellions were offered to use a brand new Toyota V10 engine.  It qualified even faster than the 5.5 liter version of last year, but still was no match for the diesels. The #12 won the unofficial petrol class and finished 6th overall.
#12 Neel Jani (CH) / Nicolas Prost (F) / Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL) – 6th
Lola B10/65 – 3.4 liter Toyota RV8K-LMV8 90° approx. 550 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 910 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. B09/80 #HU01

• SPARK S2555 (resin)

---

2012 Le Mans 24h, Lola B12/60 – Toyota. Swiss Rebellion racing uses Toyota engines, but the new factory Toyota’s with their hybrid technology were much faster. The Rebellion team – in the black and gold livery from sponsor Lotus – were to fight with the Strakka HPD and Pescarolo’s for the honors of “best of the rest”. This #13 car ran together with its teammate #12 for many hours, but Sunday morning problems with the clutch and overheating dropped the car out of the top 10. It would finish 11th, while the #12 took 4th position behind 3 Audi’s.
#13 Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL) / Harold Primat (CH) / Andrea Bellichi (I) – 11th
Lola B12/60 – 3.4 liter Toyota RV8K-LMV8 90° approx. 550 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 910 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. B09/80 #HU01S

• SPARK S3644 (resin)

---

2013 Le Mans 24h, Lola B12/60 – Toyota. the Lola chassis have reached the end of its development possibilities. So, the Rebellions can only battle with the HPD from Strakka way behind the factory cars. Both Swiss cars had numerous problems and they only finished 39th and 40th this year.
#13 Neel Jani (CH) / Nicolas Prost (F) / Nick Heidfeld (D) – 39th / 7th
Lola B12/60 – 3.4 liter Toyota RV8K-LMV8 90° approx. 550 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 910 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. B09/80 #HU01S

• SPARK S3705 (resin)

---

Rebellion and the Oreca R-One

2014 Le Mans 24h, Rebellion R-One – Toyota. Swiss Rebellion Racing has been using 2010 Lola chassis for the last few years. But there was no development anymore and since Lola has gone broke, something else was needed. That else is the Rebellion R-One, developed together with Oreca and again equipped with the Toyota engine. Of course the Swiss couldn’t match the pace of the works teams, but reliability was great and the team with Prost, Heidfeld and Beche finished 4th overall and 1st privateer this year.
#12 Nicolas Prost (F) / Nick Heidfeld (D) / Mathias Beche (F) – 4th
Rebellion R-One – 3.4 liter Toyota RV8K-LMV8 90° approx. 550 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre + aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. Oreca 05 #01

• SPARK S4206 (resin)

---

2015 Le Mans 24h, Rebellion R-One – AER. This year the Rebellion R-One was back after its great debut last year, but the older normally aspirated Toyota engine had been replaced by a new AER V6 twin turbo power unit. Both Rebellions had problems, this #13 one even crashed once, but both managed to finish the race in 18th and 23rd positions.
#13 Alexandre Imperatori (CH) / Dominik Kraihamer (A) / Daniel Abt (D) – 18th
Rebellion R-One – 2.0 liter AER P60 V6 90º twin turbo, approx. 600 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre + aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. Oreca 05 #02

• SPARK S4237 (resin)

---

2016 Le Mans 24h, Rebellion R-One – AER. Rebellion Racing again used the R-One with AER V6 turbo engine, but that is not a reliable combination. The #13 car doesn’t finish at all and the #12 finishes 29th.
#12 Nicolas Prost (F) / Nick Heidfeld (D) / Nelson Piquet jr. (BR) – 29th
Rebellion R-One – 2.0 liter AER P60 V6 90º twin turbo, approx. 600 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre + aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. Oreca 05 #02

• SPARK S5106 (resin)

---

2017, the in-between year

2017 Daytona 24h, Oreca 07 – Gibson. Rebellion raced the R-One for three seasons and in 2017 they did a step back and ran in LMP2. This gave them the opportunity to compete also in the Daytona 24h, a race that is part of the IMSA championship but also allows LMP2 prototypes. Neel Jani qualifies 3rd, but in the race the team only finishes 31st.
#13 Neel Jani (CH) / Sébastien Buemi (CH) / Stéphane Sarrazin (F) / Nick Heidfeld (D) – 31st / 8th Proto
Oreca 07 – Gibson GK428 V8 90º, approx. 580 hp. Michelon tires. Weight 833 kg. Carbon fibre + aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. #07

• SPARK US153 (resin)

---

2017 Le Mans 24h, Oreca 07 – Gibson. Rebellion, renamed Vaillante Rebellion, entered two cars in LMP2. The livery of the cars was that of the famous comic hero Michel Vaillant. Le Mans didn’t bring the team success, finishing only 16th, while the other car got disqualified. But Rebellion managed to win the LMP2 class in World Endurance Championship in the last race.
#31 Nicolas Prost (F) / Julien Canal (F) / Bruno Senna (BR) – 16th / 14th in LMP2
Oreca 07 – Gibson GK428 V8 90º, approx. 580 hp. Michelon tires. Weight 833 kg. Carbon fibre + aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. #07

• SPARK MV10 (resin)

---

Back in LMP1 with the Rebellion R13

2018 Le Mans 24h, Rebellion R13 – Gibson. Based on the Oreca 07 LMP2-car, the Rebellion R13 is the leading privateer team in Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car is powered by the Gibson GL458 non-hybrid engine that delivers up to 670 hp in LMP1 trim. It couldn’t match the hybrid Toyota’s but achieved a fantastic 3rd and 4th place in Le Mans.
#3 Thomas Laurent (F) / Gustavo Menezes (USA) / Mathias Beche (F) – 3rd
Rebellion R13 – 4.5 liter Gibson GL458, approx. 670 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre + aluminum monocoque, chasing. R13 Oreca #01

• SPARK S7002 (resin)

---

2019 Le Mans 24h, Rebellion R13 – Gibson. New colors for the Rebellion Team. The battle behind the Toyota’s was on between SMP (qualifying 3rd and 5th) and the bright colored Rebellion R13s (qualifying 4th and 6th). In the end, the Dallara built SMP got on the podium while the Rebellions finished 4th (#1) and 5th (#3).
#1 Bruno Senna (BR) / André Lotterer (D) / Neel Jani (CH) – 4th
#3 Thomas Laurent (F) / Gustavo Menezes (USA) / Nathanaël Berthon (F) – 5th
Rebellion R13 – 4.5 liter Gibson GL458, approx. 670 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre + aluminum monocoque, chasing. R13 Oreca #02 & #01

• SPARK S7901 & S7902 (resin)

---

2020 Le Mans 24h, Rebellion R13 – Gibson. It was Rebellion’s last year at Le Mans. Als the last year under the LMP1 regulations. Next year LMP1 will be replaced by Hypercar and you have to be a car manufacturer to compete in this. So Rebellion sells their cars to Alpine that could use it another year with some adjustments (higher weight, less power). But Rebellion goes out on a high; the #1 car finished 2nd. Their team mates with #3 are 4th.
#1 Bruno Senna (BR) / Gustavo Menezes (USA) / Norman Nato (F) – 2nd
Rebellion R13 – 4.5 liter Gibson GL458, approx. 670 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre + aluminum monocoque, chasing. R13 Oreca #02

• SPARK S7955 (resin)
• 2021 #36 Alpine | SPARK S8232 (resin)

---

Thanks for visiting 🙂