The European race debut of the new Lola B05/40 LMP car takes place this weekend at the legendary Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, with two examples of the all-new sportscar ready to challenge immediately for class honours.
After impressing the sportscar world with its pace in qualifying for the Sebring 12 Hours last month, both of Spa entries have recently undertaken exhaustive tests at the Paul Ricard circuit. Both the RML and Synergy Chamberlain cars are sure to vie for pole position in the LMP2 category and go head to head against a six-pronged attack from French constructor – Courage, for LMP2 class victory.
With interest in the LMP2 class growing all the time, Spa is the perfect circuit to showcase the new B05/40 chassis and also for the teams to prepare for the Le Mans 24 Hours in a competitive environment. With its low downforce nature and gruelling high-speed corners, the teams will have one eye on the Spa podium and the other on preparations for the 24 Hours in June.
Six of the B05/40 cars have been bought by privateer customers, two by RML and one each by Synergy-Chamberlain, Intersport Racing and Binnie Motorsports, all with a variety of powerplants. Additionally, a high profile and well-known sportscar entrant will debut the sixth B05/40 at Monza in July. An announcement is expected shortly.
RML team manager Phil Barker was full of anticipation for the forthcoming weekend as he and his team put the final preparations for their MG Lola EX264 entry. “Although we had a few problems during the test, the car and team performed well and we believe we are well prepared for the first event in Spa,” said Barker. “We know that we will be in better shape than when we were here last year and we qualified 5th then. Mike (Newton) and Tommy (Erdos) have forged a very good partnership. The test we did at Ricard saw us learn an awful lot about the car. We did 9.5 hours of running with only a small water leak. Considering that we really didn’t work on fine tuning the car then I have to say that we are very encouraged.”
Chamberlain-Synergy will also make their race debut after a good test at Ricard. Team Principals Bob Berridge and Hugh Chamberlain have a wealth of experience in motorsport, and this allied to a trouble free run in France has given Berridge a sense of optimism for this weekend in the Dunlop shod B05/40-AER. “We are in good shape at the moment and very pleased with the car. Peter (Owen) and Gareth (Evans) both got plenty of laps last week and are getting more and more confident in the car.”
Sadly, the Binnie Motorsports entry will not make the trip to Spa as Team Principal Bill Binnie explained. “After the Sebring 12 hour race, the team and the car returned to the Lola factory for some significant electrical modifications, “ said last years Le Mans LMP2 class winner. “The car requires additional time and rather than rush to get to Spa, we would rather do the job correctly and test in May and June in anticipation for being ready for Monza.”
Lola’s heritage in International sportscar racing stretches back to the 1960’s with the iconic T70 model. Since the late 1990’s Lola have unveiled four successful models – the B98/10, the B2K/10, the B2K/40 and the B01/60. Many of these models are still racing and winning across the globe.
Qualifying for Round One of the Le Mans Endurance Series at Spa takes place on Saturday at 15.00 with the 1000kms starting at 12.00 on Sunday afternoon.
