Lola planning next steps in its racing revival

Following its entry into Formula E, Lola Cars has started exploring the next steps of its revival.

The brand emerged from 12 years of dormancy earlier this year when it announced its intentions to enter the all-electric series as a powertrain manufacturer in collaboration with Yamaha. It was part of a new strategy for the famed chassis and car manufacturer which will see it focus on alternative technologies going forward.

“We want to be a leader in sustainable motorsport. Why sustainable motorsport? In my view, motorsport plays two roles: on the one hand, it’s an entertainment sport, on the other hand it’s a platform for innovation for the broader automotive and mobility space,” Lola chairman Till Bechtolsheimer said at Formula E's pre-season test in Spain last week. “I think broader automotive and mobility space is pretty singularly focused on decarbonizing and so I think that’s the direction that motorsport’s directly going towards as well.

“It’s a somewhat obvious focus on the three areas that are of broader interest: electrification, hydrogen, sustainable fuels and materials. So we’re working actively on projects in each three of those camps, the first being the electrification box ticked with Formula E.”

Lola customer cars, like this Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 from 2013, were once a significant player in sports cars -- something that Bechtolsheimer is keen to recreate, within the company's sustainability ethos. Scott LePage/Motorsport Images

With that project now a reality, Bechtolsheimer indicated that a return to the sports car arena could be next.

“We’ve got an interesting project on the go at the moment on the sustainable fuels and materials side that we’ll be announcing in 2025,” he revealed. “Hydrogen is a moving target at the moment. We’re expecting updates from the FIA soon in terms of what they’re planning in conjunction with the ACO at Le Mans -- that’s something that we’re keeping a keen eye on.

“We’d love to be involved in the Le Mans paddock and sports car paddock in general. I have a personal passion for sports car racing. We’ll be giving more updates next year.”

In addition to that, an expanded footprint in Formula E is likely for the company. While it only supplies the Abt team at the moment, all manufacturers committed to the current GEN3 ruleset, as well as GEN4 which will arrive in 2026, must commit to being able to supply to at least two teams.

Bechtolsheimer says that expansion is “not something that concerns us,” adding that branching out would be a good fit for Lola’s DNA historically as a supplier to multiple teams.

“It’s not part of the plan per se, but it’s probably a more natural fit for Lola than it is for some of the other manufacturers,” he said.

Lola’s motorsport director Mark Preston called the idea a “logical trajectory,” pointing out that the additional data afforded by having at least two more cars on track would be beneficial.

“That’s part of the rules so we had to sign up for that in GEN3 Evo as well, and we all know more data is more useful as well,” he said. “It’s good at the moment to be just by ourselves to just get ourselves going, and then I think it makes sense if we have a customer team or partnership then more data is better and that will be better for the future. So I think that’s a logical trajectory as well.”

At present, Lola is one of just two manufacturers supplying a single team with Mahindra being the other, supplying its own factory team. Jaguar (Jaguar TCS Racing and Envision Racing), Nissan (Nissan and NEOM McLaren), and Stellantis (DS Penske and Maserati MSG Racing) all supply two teams apiece, while Porsche supplies its own works team and the Andretti outfit, as well as providing last year's tech to the new Kiro Race Co. organization.