The Formula E grid is expanding. At the moment the entry of a new team is not foreseen, but a new manufacturer will enter the electric category starting next year.
After the change of ownership which occurred less than two years ago, Lola Cars had hinted that the hope was to relaunch the brand in the world of motorsport: one of the first steps is to enter Formula E as an engine supplier in collaboration with Yamaha . It is no coincidence that the new partnership was announced just a few days before the Tokyo ePrix in Japan.
Although at the moment no agreement has yet been announced with any existing team on the grid, Formula E has already announced that the manufacturer will enter the totally electric championship as early as 2025, or in what will be Season 11. In fact, although it is not Since no official confirmation has been given, it is believed that the Lola/Yamaha project will supply powertrains to ABT-Cupra, as the German team will split from the Mahindra project at the end of the championship.
Lola Yamaha press conference
Photo credit: Motorsport.com / Japan
Lola Cars is a brand that includes in its history numerous successes in high-level categories, such as Formula 1, Le Mans and IndyCar, at least before experiencing a difficult financial period, so much so that it ended up in receivership in 2012. The company was saved in 2022 by British businessman Till Bechtolsheimer who, using the experience he had accumulated at IMSA, decided to acquire the Lola brand and remaining assets in 2022 with the aim of bringing it back into motorsport.
For the return to Formula E, LOLA is already working together with Yamaha to develop a Powertrain that can debut next season, when the new evolution of this generation's single-seaters, the Gen3 Evo, will also debut.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with Yamaha Motor Company to become part of the FIA Formula E World Championship. To be chosen by one of the world's most innovative OEMs to collaborate on a project of this magnitude is testament to the caliber of the team that we have built at Lola in recent years,” declared Bechtolsheimer.
“The project is focused on technological development, in which Lola has fully invested. We see the highly efficient 350 kW electric powertrain as a key technology with interesting applications in many forms of high-level international motorsport in the coming years.”
Yamaha Lola Cars Formula E
Photo by: Lola
Yamaha, however, will make its return to motor racing after a long period of absence, given that the latest activities in this sense date back to the Formula 1 program towards the end of the nineties for the supply of engines. From that moment on, the Japanese brand focused only on the world of two wheels, at least until the decision to enter Formula E.
“Yamaha Motor Company is accelerating research and development of various technologies that contribute to environmental sustainability,” said Heiji Maruyama, CEO and director.
“As a technical partner, we hope to acquire more advanced energy management technologies through the ultimate expression of electric racing, namely Formula E. We also share Lola's new philosophy on sustainable motorsport and are very pleased and honored to enter into this partnership with them.”
This partnership confirms Lola Cars' long presence in Japan, previously linked primarily to what is now known as the Japanese Super Formula Championship, where it won 13 championships in two decades starting in 1987, when it was known as All Japan F3000.
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