Paying tribute to the plucky privateer that punched above its weight

Anyone who's followed international sportscar racing over the past dozen or so years will surely, like me, feel a pang of regret that Rebellion Racing is going to disappear from the scene. In that time it has been at or near the very pinnacle of endurance racing as a plucky privateer packing a pretty decent punch.

Everyone loves an underdog and the Swiss entrant has been most definitely that for the 10 years in which it has competed in LMP1. Not only did Rebellion choose to continue at the highest level as other independent teams dropped by the wayside in the face of an ever-widening gulf between the factories and the privateers, but it grew from humble beginnings. Or at least the British-based team that ran its cars for the majority of that period did.

Rebellion hasn't always had that much opposition from fellow privateers but it has pretty much always been on top. There's no disputing that it is the best independent team of its era. That's a significant accolade given how important the privateer is to sportscar racing.

Rebellion Racing topped the LMP1 privateers' points table in every year that the World Endurance Championship had one. And over the past two campaigns when there hasn't been a separate classification, it has led the chase of Toyota, the sole manufacturer left standing in LMP1.

Just in case you have any doubts as to the credentials of Rebellion, when it stepped down to LMP2 in search of some opposition in 2017, it promptly claimed both the drivers' and the teams' crowns, winning half the eight races along the way. And its away-days at the Petit Le Mans enduro at Road Atlanta in 2012 and 2013 (below) both yielded victories ahead of the American Le Mans Series regulars.

Then there's its record at the Le Mans 24 Hours: Rebellion has notched up no fewer than seven top-six finishes at French enduro since 2011. The team got both its cars home in the top five in the twin editions of Le Mans included on the 2018/19 WEC superseason calendar, but more impressive to me was its fourth-place finish in 2014 on the debut of the first car to carry its own name.

The Rebellion R-One, developed by ORECA like its current R-13, was admittedly 19 laps back from the winning Audi, but the team got a brand new car to the finish of a 24-hour race on its debut. Nick Heidfeld's times in the Toyota-engined machine in the closing stages of the race were particularly impressive.

Rebellion has, of course, won a couple of WEC races outright. It has the scrutineers to thank for its 2018 victory at Silverstone, Toyota's post-race dramas elevating the best of the R-13s from third position. This season it got a helping hand from the new system of success handicaps when it won in Shanghai last November.

Two outright wins isn't a bad haul. Not when you consider that throughout the Group C era of the original world sportscar championship from 1982 to 1992 the number of wins by privateers only just scrapped into double digits.

It was always a quirky team with Hugh Hayden at the helm. My memories of the man revolve around the beverage he held in his hand

Back then, however, the privateers could truly nip at the heels of the big boys. Until the current season and the arrival of success handicaps that wasn't the case for Rebellion. It has competed in the top class at a time when the manufacturers have been on another planet.

Rebellion has always been a well-funded operation thanks to its wealthy owner, Alexandre Pesci. But it had a homespun feel about it in the years it was run from the UK by Sebah Automotive, a team that grew from racing Caterhams at national level to become a major player on the international sportscar scene.

It made the jump with a Porsche 911 GT3-R back in 2001, the purchase of which team founder Hugh Hayden communicated to his son Bart on the day of his wedding. When told that his dad had bought a 911, Bart's response was to ask if it was in the car park outside. Only then was it revealed that it was actually a racing car.

Bart, who took over the running of the team on his father's death in 2010, would race the car in the European Le Mans Series in 2001. There was little to point to the bright future of the team. It appeared sporadically after that until Sebah pitched up in the Le Mans Endurance Series three years later.

The team's efforts with an now-updated car known affectionately as the 'Old Lady' attracted the attention of Porsche, which placed a young hot-shot by the name of Marc Lieb with the team. But for a scoring anomaly full-season driver Xavier Pompidou would have taken the GT2 title, Sehah having to make do with the teams' crown.

They put things right the following year when Pompidou and Lieb, paired together for the full season, claimed the title that mattered. Sebah retained the teams' title to boot.

It was always a quirky team with Hayden Sr at the helm. My memories of the man revolve around the beverage he held in his hand. If we were somewhere warm, it would most likely be a cup of tea; he was forever extolling the cooling effects of a hot cuppa based on his years spent in the Middle East. If it was post-race and the team had enjoyed a good day, it was a celebratory can of Guinness.

The Haydens' links with Porsche explained why Pesci, already running a Spyker GT2 car in what had become the Le Mans Series, approached them when he had aspirations to field a Porsche RS Spyder LMP2. When a potential deal fell through, they turned to the newly-announced Lola coupe developed for the secondary prototype class.

Speedy Racing Team Sebah came into being and joined the LMS in 2008 and expanded into LMP1 the following year with an Aston Martin-powered Lola (below). For 2010, the team expanded to two LMP1 cars, switched to Judd engines and became Rebellion Racing, in deference to Pesci's watch company.

ORECA largely took over the running of Rebellion Racing on its return to LMP1 on the arrival of the R-13 at the start of the 2018/19 season, and Bart Hayden is for now the only remaining Sebah man in his role as team manager.

Rebellion has "written a page" and it should be proud of that

Rebellion was headed for pastures new at the conclusion of this year's WEC campaign and was leaving the ranks of the privateers. It had thrown its lot in with Peugeot, as the French manufacturer gears up for its sportscar return in 2022. What this link-up would have meant, save for Pesci providing a chunk of cash, hadn't been defined.

Now Rebellion has decided, it says, "to reorient its investment policy". I am unable to translate such business-speak, but it does mean that the team is leaving sportscar racing and the world of rally-raids, and won't be involved with the Peugeot programme.

Calim Boudhadra, Rebellion's outspoken CEO, said in the announcement of the withdrawal that "as a private team we are proud to have written a page in motorsport". He's right there: it has written a page and it should be proud of that.

There's still time for Rebellion to polish its record in the three remaining regular WEC rounds and then the Le Mans finale in June. I'm not betting on one of the R-13s winning the race, but should it happen I reckon I'll need to find myself a can a Guinness to toast old man Hayden, the Old Lady and one of the great sportscar privateers.