Seven Lola sportscars will make the annual pilgrimage to Le Mans this June for the world’s most famous endurance race – the 76th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours.

It will be the biggest Lola presence at Le Mans since 1979. Three  LMP1  and  four  LMP2  Lola  cars  will  battle  it  out  in  the  55  car  field  on  14/15  June. 

Lola’s  all-new  LMP1  and LMP2 Coupe designs will make their debut at La Sarthe, with the Lola LMP1 Charouz Racing System Team, powered by an Aston Martin engine and the Lola LMP2 Speedy Racing Team Sebah. Open  top  Lola  entries  in  LMP1  are  the  Chamberlain-Synergy  Motorsport  Lola-AER  and  the  Charouz  Lola-Judd  that finished 7th overall in last year’s running of the race.

This car will be fielded for ALMS Cytosport pairing Greg Pickett and Klaus Graff, both of whom will be joined by 1988 Le Mans winner Jan Lammers. In  LMP2,  double  Le  Mans  champions  RML  return  with  the  regular  trio  of  Mike  Newton,  Tommy  Erdos  and  Andy Wallace.  Fellow  automatic  entries  Quifel-ASM  enter  a  Lola-AER  on  Dunlop  tyres  with  drivers  Guy  Smith  (2003 winner),  former  GP2  front  runner  Olivier  Pla  and  team  regular  Miguel  Amaral. 

The  newly  named  Kruse  Schiller Motorsport team will race with the ex Fernandez Lola LMP2 car, powered by the new Mazda engine. Lola will be aiming for a record fifth consecutive LMP2 class victory and a top finish in the LMP1 category in its 50th anniversary year.

Lola  founder  Eric  Broadley  took  the  company  to  Le  Mans  for  the  first  time  in  1960,  with  a  MK1  driven  by  Peter Ashdown and Charles Vogele. Three years later the Lola Mk6 was remarkably driven all the way to the world’s toughest endurance race by road from Lola’s factory in Bromley and raced by David Hobbs and Dickie Attwood.

Ford were so impressed with the design that the Mk 6 became the inspiration behind the world famous Ford GT40. In  2008  Lola  sportscars  are  thriving  with  more  prototypes  in  the  LMP1  and  LMP2  classes  than  any  of  its  rivals. 

The modern  Lola  Group  is  also  much  more  than  just  motorsport,  with  many  other  industries  such  as  Aerospace,  Defence, Communications,  Automotive  and  Space  serviced  by  Lola’s  vast  experience  in  the  design  and  manufacturing  of composites. Lola sportscars will be in action at the official Le Mans Series test days at the Paul Ricard circuit on 2/3 March.

The Le Mans 24 Hours test day takes place on Sunday 1 June, while the race itself starts on the afternoon of 14 June.