WEC LMP1 champs Buemi and Jani join Rebellion for Daytona 24 Hours
Factory LMP1 World Endurance Championship drivers Sebastien Buemi and Neel Jani will join Rebellion Racing for an attack on January's Daytona 24 Hours
Buemi and Jani, WEC champions with Toyota and Porsche in 2014 and '16 respectively, will drive the LMP2 ORECA-Gibson 07 that Rebellion will field in the four long-distance races that make up the North American Endurance Cup segment of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
They will share the car at Daytona on January 28-29 with the Anglo-Swiss team's regular Nick Heidfeld.
The IMSA NAEC campaign - which also includes the Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta enduros - is the first part of Rebellion's 2017 programme to be confirmed after its decision to switch from the WEC privateer LMP1 ranks.
It marks a return to a North America series by Rebellion for the first time since the 2013 season in which it notched up the second of its back-to-back victories in the Petit Le Mans blue-riband race at Road Atlanta.
Jani, who also won the Le Mans 24 Hours this year, is returning to the team with which he made his name in sportscar racing in 2009-13 prior to his move to Porsche at the start of its P1 programme.
Team principal Bart Hayden said: "After our success in the American Le Mans Series races in 2012 and 2013 [of which Petit was then a part], we always wanted to find a way back to competing in the USA.
"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."
Cadillac unveils its DPi for 2017 IMSA SportsCar comeback
BMW unveils new 'Art Car' for 2017 Daytona 24 Hours IMSA opener
The forgettable final car of a former F1 giant that gave Damon Hill his start
While it launched the F1 career of a future world champion, STUART CODLING recalls that the BT60 was also the final nail in the coffin of a once-great marque 30 years ago. Here is its story
Darryn Binder “was a victim” of RNF’s Yamaha MotoGP split for 2023
RNF Racing boss Razlan Razali says Moto2-bound Darryn Binder “was a victim” of the team’s split with Yamaha for the 2023 MotoGP season.
Middle East nations capable of hosting more Formula E races, says Saudi chief
Middle Eastern nations have the capacity to host more Formula E races in addition to the Diriyah E-Prix, according to the Saudi Arabian race's promoter Carlo Boutagy.
Szafnauer: Alpine was "one of the best" in F1 development race this year
Otmar Szafnauer believes Alpine was "one of the best" teams in the Formula 1 development race this year, bouncing back from a tricky pre-season to finish the year fourth.
The long road to convergence for sportscar racing's new golden age
The organisers of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship worked together to devise the popular new LMDh rule set. But to turn it from an idea into reality, some serious compromises were involved - both from the prospective LMDh entrants and those with existing Le Mans Hypercar projects...
How Porsche's Le Mans legend changed the game
The 956 set the bar at the dawn of Group C 40 years ago, and that mark only rose higher through the 1980s, both in the world championship and in the US. It and its successor, the longer-wheelbase 962, were voted as Autosport's greatest sportscar in 2020 - here's why
Why BMW shouldn't be overlooked on its return to prototypes
OPINION: While the focus has been on the exciting prospect of Ferrari vs Porsche at the Le Mans 24 Hours next year, BMW’s factory return to endurance racing should not be ignored. It won't be at the French classic next year as it focuses efforts on the IMSA SportsCar Championship, but could be a dark horse in 2024 when it returns to La Sarthe with the crack WRT squad
The British pair at the heart of Lexus's IMSA push
Have you heard the one about two northerners driving for a Japanese manufacturer in America’s top sportscar series? Time to sit down and talk with Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat about racing across the pond… and your accent being mistaken for Australian
Why Peugeot couldn't afford to take a Le Mans gamble in 2022
Ahead of the much-anticipated arrival of its new 9X8 Hypercar, Peugeot revealed that it would not be entering this year's Le Mans 24 Hours with its incoming machinery. Although development restrictions for homologated cars are partially responsible, the French marque can draw on its own lessons from its history in sportscars
Why two names for the same thing could cloud sportscar racing's new golden era
OPINION: The adoption by IMSA of the GTP name for its forthcoming LMDh versus Le Mans Hypercar era in 2023 appeals to fans of nostalgia - but it undermines the commonality achieved by bringing its rulebook into line with the World Endurance Championship. GTP or Hypercar, both sides should settle on a single name
Celebrating the weird and wonderful monsters of sportscar racing
Few disciplines of motorsport offer better possibilities to build a colossus of the track than sportscars. For Autosport's recent Monsters of Motorsport special issue, we picked out some of the finest (and not so fine) that have graced sportscar classics including Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring
How Castroneves and Meyer Shank conquered another US classic
Helio Castroneves continued his fine start to life with Meyer Shank Racing that netted the 2021 Indianapolis 500 victory by prevailing in last weekend's Daytona 24 Hours together with team-mates Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Simon Pagenaud. As Cadillac fell by the wayside, the Brazilian veteran won out in an all-Acura duel to the finish