Lola to split with Abt, take Formula E team in-house from next season

Lola will split from Abt at the end of the current Formula E season.

The revived British manufacturer teamed up with Yamaha to produce powertrains for Formula E and enlisted championship-winning team Abt to run its works program in the series. During pre-season testing for its maiden Formula E season, Lola took over its team's entry from Abt, although the German firm continued to operate it, but after the current campaign – and for the start of Formula E’s GEN4 era – it will run its own team in-house.

“With the continued growth of the organization, long-term commitment to Formula E and additional projects in the pipeline, Lola Cars has made the decision to consolidate its Formula E operations in-house at our Silverstone HQ,” team principal Mark Preston said. “This will enable us to streamline activities, increase expertise for upcoming projects and better drive innovation through motorsport.

“Abt was our partner of choice to operate the team as we entered the all-electric racing series, with vast experience and technical expertise within Formula E.

“We'd like to thank them for all of their hard work and dedication during our first two seasons in the sport and look forward to continuing to collaborate with them for the remainder of Season 12.”

Abt spent seven years running Audi's factory team in Formula E, finishing in the top three in all but two of those seasons, winning 14 races as well as the 2016-17 drivers' title with Lucas di Grassi and the 2017–18 teams' championship. After a season away, it returned in 2022-23 with backing from Audi's fellow Volkswagen Group brand Cupra and Mahindra drivetrains. The tie-up with Mahindra was unsuccessful, yielding just two top five finishes and it pivoted to Lola after two seasons.

Lola Yamaha Abt had four points finishes last season, all courtesy of Lucas di Grassi, including a second place at the Miami E-Prix. It has one points finish in the first two races of this season, with Zane Maloney finishing 10th in Sao Paulo.

Topics

formula e

lola cars

abt sportsline

yamaha

lucas di grassi

zane maloney

miami e-prix

gen4

Formula E

Dominik Wilde

Dominik often jokes that he was born in the wrong country – a lover of NASCAR and IndyCar, he covered both in a past life as a junior at Autosport in the UK, but he’s spent most of his career to date covering the sliding and flying antics of the U.S.’ interpretation of rallycross. Rather fitting for a man that says he likes “seeing cars do what they’re not supposed to do”, previously worked for a car stunt show, and once even rolled a rally car with Travis Pastrana. He was also comprehensively beaten in a kart race by Sebastien Loeb once, but who hasn’t been?

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