19/03/06 - INTERSPORT LOLA SCOOPS LMP2 VICTORY AND FINISHES SECOND OVERALL

Lola sportscars were once again in victory lane at the 54th running of the Sebring 12 hours over the weekend. Jon Field, his son Clint and Liz Halliday celebrated a superb win in the LMP2 class and a second placing overall.

Three different models of Huntingdon built sports-prototypes were competing on the famous airfield in Florida. While the all-new B06/10 LMP1 design finished 2nd in its class on its debut, the similarly AER powered B05/40 LMP2 car run by Intersport Racing started the season with its best ever result at Sebring. Completing a highly successful day for Lola was Binnie Motorsport who made it a 1-3 finish in LMP2, sandwiching one of the Penske Porsches.

Clint Field, the reigning LMP2 champion, had a scare early in the race when Frank Biela spun his Audi in the second hour, causing the American to take avoiding action on the grass. Later, the drivers took the chequered flag, 22 laps ahead of the second in class Porsche RS Spyder of Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhr and Emmanuel Collard.

"This was a special race as we were sandwiched between the Audi drivers and the Corvette, and it was amazing beating those guys to claim runners-up spot. Full credit to my team mates, the team, Lola and AER," said a delighted Jon Field from the podium. Liz Halliday became the highest placing woman driver ever at Sebring, beating Lynn St James who had managed fifth overall in 1983 in a Nimrod C2. Oddly, Liz's second place was also appreciated by race winner Allan McNish, as the Scot had lent a pair of his gloves to the Californian immediately before the start of the race!"

Jon's son and team mate Clint Field added: "It was a great day and I am delighted for the team, Jon and Liz. We now need to capitalise on this result for the next race in Houston on 13th May.  To win our class and finish second overall behind the works Audi team is a major achievement."

DYSON DELIGHT WITH NEW LOLA LMP1

The new B06/10 AER package finished second in the LMP1 category in the hands of James Weaver, Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace, in the #16 Dyson entry. The car had a technical problem, which caused both of the team's cars to temporarily stop out on the circuit, but neither was delayed for long. "I am very impressed with our guys, with Lola and also AER who have done a superb job with this fantastic car," said Dyson team owner/manager Rob Dyson. "We have had only six days of testing prior to coming here, and this is the first time that the engine and chassis combination has run in anger. A year ago the engine was a blank sheet of paper, and we started to run it something like three months ago."

Weaver was full of praise for the new package. "It is a very good car, and we can win races with it," said the Englishman. "I think with development we can be on the pace the Audis showed today. We did not have too many problems during this race. We had a brake pipe problem and we damaged the floor running over some concrete somewhere but that was it and before this race, we had never run more than 12 laps at a time. It is an extraordinary achievement."

The Audi has miles and miles of testing under its belt before it came here for the gruelling 12-hours of Sebring, but we have shown that with this good engine and chassis combination, we can be very competitive," concluded Weaver.

The # 20 Lola B06/10 of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith ended up retiring seven and a half hours into the race after a competitive but eventful run.  Guy Smith started the race and ran as high as third, but two punctures and software glitches dropped the car to thirty-first.  Delighted with his car's race setup, the 2003 Le Mans winner had moved the car back up to eighth by the end of his double stint. Chris Dyson took over and continued the team's progress, running as high as fifth overall before a problem interrupted the second half of the American's double stint. Dyson handed the car back to Smith, but two hours were lost replacing a supply-side oil pump and repairing a fuel leak. Unfortunately, the car was retired forty minutes after returning to action with overheating caused by debris in the radiator.

BINNIE TAKE IMPRESSIVE LMP2 PODIUM PLACE

Third in the LMP2 class was the Binnie Motorsports team of Bill Binnie, Rick Sutherland and Allen Timpany in their Zytek-powered Lola B05/40. "It is great that Binnie has worked hard to reverse his fortunes from last year," said Lola's David Scotney. "They have made a very good engine choice this year, and that has paid off for them this weekend."

"But for a water hose clip we'd have been second but we're very pleased indeed with that result," confirmed Bill Binnie. "We can move forward now on the back of that.I'm absolutely delighted for Intersport. That was a fantastic race by all of them, " he sportingly acknowledged. Binnie Motorsport will be in action in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June as well as selected Le Mans Series and ALMS races throughout the year.

HIGHCROFT AND AUTOCON POSITIVE FOR COMING SEASON

The Highcroft Racing Lola B01/60 AER of Duncan Dayton, Rick Knoop and Gregor Fisken, retired as a precautionary measure when the car was found to have a fuel leak, believed to be a ruptured fuel tank.

"We had a minor spin on oil and we lost several laps due to a misfire, but then we climbed up and we were ready to get back into the top 20 overall when we had to drop out," said Gregor Fisken. "Duncan was able to qualify quickest of the non-new generation Prototypes, and he was running fifth or sixth when he spun in oil.  We regouped and we were knocking on the door of the top 20," continued the Scot.

The similar Autocon Lola B01/60-AER of Michael Lewis, Chris McMurry and Bryan Willman stopped out on track with a suspected oil fire in the fifth hour of the 12-hour race.

LOLA B06/10'S HIT EUROPE

The spectacular new Lola B06/10 LMP1 car will make its European public debut at Paul Ricard next week in the hands of Synergy Chamberlain who will contest both the LMS and 24 Le Mans 24 Hours.

The car tested last week ay Estoril and ran faultlessly for two days, much to the delight of team principal and driver Bob Berridge. The car will then go on to Istabul for its competitive European debut on April 7-9.

Also competing in Turkey will be the LMP2 cars of RML, Team ASM and Horag. Lola Cars International Ltd are currently taking deposits on both the LMP1 and LMP2 cars.

For further information please contact Sam Smith or Nick Jordan on +44 (0) 1480 359590 or sales@lolacars.com

Race results:
Pos     Drivers Car     Class   Laps    Gap
1       Capello, Kristensen, McNish     Audi R10 TDI Power      P1      349

2       Field, Halliday, Field  Lola B05/40 AER
P2      345     4 Laps
3       Gavin, Beretta, Magnussen       Corvette C6-R   GT1     338     11 Laps
4       Bright, Lamy, Sarrazin  Aston Martin DB9        GT1     337     12 Laps
5       Weaver, Leitzinger, Wallace     Lola B06/10 AER
P1      336     13 Laps
6       Enge, Turner, Kiesa     Aston Martin DB9        GT1     324     25 Laps
7       Fellows, O'Connell, Papis       Corvette C6-R   GT1     324     26 Laps
8       Maassen, Luhr, Collard  Porsche RS Spyder       P2      323     26 Laps
9       Maxwell, Brabham, Bourdais      Panoz Esperante GTLM    GT2     320     29 Laps
10      vanOverbeek, Fogarty, Lieb      Porsche 911 GT3 RSR     GT2     320     30 Laps
11      Kelleners, Melo, Lazza  Ferrari 430 GT  GT2     320     31 Laps
12      Binnie, Timpany, Sutherland     Lola B05/40 Zytek       P2      317     32 Laps
13      Law, Neiman, Pechnik    Porsche 911 GT3 RSR     GT2     315     34 Laps
14      Tomilson, Dean, Kimber-Smith    Panoz Esperante GTLM    GT2     312     37 Laps
15      Rockenfeller, Graf, Rahal       Porsche 911 GT3 RSR     GT2     311     38 Laps
16      Barazi, Vergers, Julian
Courage C65     P2      293     56 Laps
17      Bergmeister, Jonsson, Bergmeister      Porsche 911 GT3 RSR    GT2    292    57 Laps
18      Hezemans, Bleekemolen   Spyker C8 Spyder
       GT2     281     68 Laps
19      Weickardt, Borcheller   Saleen S7R      GT1     275     74 Laps
20      Sudgen, Matthews        Porsche 911 GT3 RSR     GT2     267     82 Laps
21      Pumpelly, Thornton, Patterson   Porsche 911 GT3 RSR     GT2     263     86 Laps
22      Bach, Cosmo, Matos      Courage C65 Mazda       P2      262     87 Laps
23      Kox, Crevels    Spyker C8 Spyder Aud    GT2     248     101 Laps
24      Ehret, Nielsen, Farnbacher      Porsche 911 GT3 RSR     GT2     198     151 Laps
25      Auberlen, James, Hand   BMW E46 M3      GT2     197     152 Laps
26      Bernhard, Dumas, Long   Porsche RS Spyder       P2      193     156 Laps
27      Dyson, Smith    Lola B06/10 AER
P1      173     176 Laps
28      Vonka, Casadel, McCormick       Porsche 911 GT3 RS      GT2     130     219 Laps
29      Dayton, Fisken, Knoop   Lola EX257 AER  P1      128     221 Laps
30      Sellers, Jensen, Marks  BMW E46 M3      GT2     124     225 Laps
31      Lewis, McMurry, Willman
Lola EX257 AER  P1      121     228 Laps
32      Biela, Pirro, Werner    Audi R10 TDI Power      P1      117     232 Laps
33      Jeannette, Milner, Junqueira    Panoz Esperante GTLM    GT2     71      278 Laps
34      Ruberti, Babini, Davies
Saleen S7R      GT1     66      283 Laps
35      Lally, Gue, Davis       Courage C65 AER
P2      62      287 Laps

With thanks to Cormack Fallon
TOP^  
Headlights ablaze the LMP2 winning Intersport B05/40 leads one of the diesel-powered Audis.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
A pit stop in the darkness for the Dyson B06/10, runner-up in LMP1.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
The Binnie Motorsports B05/40 were delighted to finish third in LMP2.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
The Dyson B06/10 of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith retired but ran in the top three.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
A fuel leak put an end to the Highcroft Racing B01/60 but the team were happy with their progress.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
An oil fire spelt the end of the Autocon B01/60.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
The Dyson drivers surround the Audi drivers at the LMP1 prize giving.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
The delighted Intersport Team (in the centre) of Liz Halliday, Clint and Jon Field display their trophies on the LMP2 podium.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
A driver change for the class winning Intersport car.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
The Chris Dyson/ Guy Smith B06/10 makes a pitstop.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
Andy Wallace is confident that the latest Lola will soon be challenging the Audis.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
Night falls on the LMP2 winning Intersport car.
(Picture americanlemans.com)
The superb (and very big) Dyson team transporter.
(Picture americanlemans.com)