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2013 GP2 champion Fabio Leimer on verge of Rebellion WEC deal

Reigning GP2 champion Fabio Leimer is on the verge of a deal to drive for Rebellion Racing in this year's World Endurance Championship

The Swiss driver will test one of the Anglo-Swiss team's Lola-Toyota B12/60s at the official Paul Ricard WEC test this week and is expected to conclude a deal to race its all-new Rebellion R-One LMP1 shortly afterwards.

Rebellion team manager Bart Hayden said: "We first bumped into Fabio at a party at Speedy Garage, one of our sponsors in Switzerland, back in December and started talking then.

"We wanted him to do the test to make sure that both sides were happy, but I think the deal should happen.

"We believe he will be a good person to fill the shoes of the departing Neel Jani [who has joined the factory Porsche team for 2014]."

Leimer will be joined in the two 2013-spec Lola-Toyotas at Ricard on Friday and Saturday by Nick Heidfeld, Mathias Beche, Nicolas Prost, Dominik Kraihamer and Andrea Belicchi.

Long-time Rebellion driver Belicchi is expected to be confirmed with the team for a seventh season imminently.

The team is running its Lolas at Ricard because its new P1, designed and built by ORECA, is not yet ready.

The Rebellion-Toyota is now on course to test for the first time in the first week of April, Hayden revealed.

The team's plans to run the first R-One the week after the official WEC test have been thwarted by circuit availability at Ricard, which is adjacent to ORECA's headquarters.

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