One of the most iconic names in motorsport is expected to return this year, establishing a team in Formula E Championship.
O Lola Cars UK announced on Thursday that it will partner with Yamaha to form the new Lola Yamaha team in time for the 11th season of Formula E, which is expected to begin later this year. The provisional calendar will only be published in June.
He will take over the current ABT Cupra team, with Formula E veteran Mark Preston serving as team principal. He is currently the boss of rival team Techeetah. Preston was also a founder of the former Super Aguri Formula 1 team and, before that, senior designer for the McLaren F1 team, where he worked alongside Adrian Newey and Mike Coughlan.
Lola was founded in 1958 by legendary British racing car designer Eric Broadley. The company over the years has built cars for F1, Formula 5000, IndyCar and the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am), among other series, and together with several Lolas racing teams has accumulated more than 500 championship titles, according to the company. Most notably, the Lola Mk6 it also served as the basis for the Ford GT40.
Lola Yamaha Gen 3 Formula E racing car
Lola’s original run came to an end in 2012 after the company went bankrupt. Its assets eventually went to investor Till Bechtolsheimer in 2022, who intended to revive the company and its automobile career. It is also establishing a new headquarters in Silverstone, where several F1 teams are also located.
Bechtolsheimer said the focus of Lola’s involvement in Formula E will be the development of electric vehicle technology for motorsport applications, particularly the 469 hp electric powertrain used by the current Gen3 racing car common to all Formula E teams.
In a statement, Bechtolsheimer said Lola sees the highly efficient powertrain as a “fundamental technology with exciting applications in many forms of high-level international motorsport in the coming years.”
In other Formula E news, Nissan on Thursday became the first team to commit to the next-generation Gen4 race car, which will be launched later this decade. Performance targets for the new car include an output of 804 hp and regeneration capacity of up to 938 hp.