Lola sportscars will be in action on both sides of the Atlantic this weekend, tackling two very different challenges, one at the undulating Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium and the other on the tight confines of the Houston street track in Texas.

Both the LMP1 - B06/10 and the LMP2 - B05/40 will be in action at both events with Lola customers looking to continue the excellent start to 2006 which has already seen class wins and outright podium finishes.

ALMS- Houston
Dyson Racing began their new era with a pair of the Lola B06/10 chassis in brilliant style at Sebring in March with a 2^nd placed class finish on the cars debut. Houston will prove another tough challenge for the New York state based team who believe that they could be in a position to score maximum points with their AER turbo powered Lolas in Texas this weekend.

"We had a great test at Atlanta prior to Sebring," said Guy Smith, who is teaming up with Chris Dyson in the No. 20 Lola. "I really don't think we showed our hand at Sebring at all. The Lola has good mechanical grip.
A place like Houston definitely should suit the car."

The sister car of Butch Leitzinger and James Weaver is looking to build on the second placed finish in LMP1 class at Sebring and the Englishman is as enthusiastic as ever, as he readies to the drive the B06/10 once again. "The car is fabulous to drive and very confidence boosting, particularly in the high speed stuff," said the long term Dyson racer. "We are looking forward to seeing where we are in relation to the (Champion) R8, but we should be in very good shape come Saturday night."

Intersport Racing had a fantastic start to the season with a 2^nd place overall and LMP2 class win at Sebring. Clint Field and Liz Halliday will be in the car this weekend with the multi-talented Halliday believing that the
Intersport Lola-AER will suit the tight confines of the 1.7 mile, 10 turn Texan street circuit. "Street circuits by their very nature are not forgiving," she said, "and I don't have much experience of them, so my plan is to use the practice sessions to get myself confident and settled in, making sure we get as many  laps as possible to arrive on race day fully prepared."

Two further Lola's will also be in action at Houston with the Autocon Motorsports team entering the ex Dyson Lola B01/60 LMP1 machine and the Van Der Steur outfit giving their AER powered B2K/40 its 2006 track debut with usual drivers Gunnar Van Der Steur and Norfolk's Ben Devlin. Autcon's Chris McMurry will once again share the car with Brian Willman and he believes that the team could be a force in the race. "If we get our slow speed corner 'point-and-shoot' set up right, we will be very difficult to deal with in the race. The car should be very quick out of the corners, and its braking is very impressive and allows us to go very deep in to the corners," said McMurry. "We have a great chance of getting on the podium this weekend."

The Houston race kicks off at 20.00 local time on Friday evening. You can see live coverage of the race at 02.00bst on Motors TV this Saturday morning. And you can catch live action on Globecast radio at: http://globecast.workscast.com/.

UK timetable

Thursday
Practice 1 17:10 - 18:00
Practice 2 23:20 - 00:10

Friday
Qualifying GT1/2 00:20 - 00:40
Qualifying LMP1/2 00:50 - 01:10

Saturday
Race 02:00 - 04:45

LMS - Spa

Sunday will see the second round of the 2006 Le Mans Series at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium with a bumper 48 car entry list sure to provide exciting racing. Four Lola sportscars will be in action in the Ardennes, with a car in each class for Chamberlain Synergy and LMP2 entries for RML and Binnie Motorsports.

Chamberlain Synergy head to Spa after two days of testing at Pembrey earlier this week. Team manager Hugh Chamberlain believes that with the added miles on the B06/10, a repeat of their stunning 2005 form at Spa could be on the cards this weekend. "The test was very useful for us and Bob (Berridge) did some decent times," said Chamberlain. "We are still learning certain things with the car but the potential in it is massive. Aerodynamically the car is perhaps the best I have seen." Chamberlain's driver line-up remains unchanged with Peter Owen and reigning LMP2 drivers champion Gareth Evans joining Berridge. The Dunlop shod LMP1 car will be up against some tough opposition in Belgium as works Zytek, Courage and Lister sports prototypes will also be in action.

Chamberlain's second entry is for the Iberian trio of Miguel Amaral, Miguel Angel De Castro and Angel Burgueno. The team will make their competitive debut with the B05/40 chassis that won last years event at Spa and with the experience of team principal and former British F3 racer, Antonio Simoes, they should be contenders in the increasingly well supported LMP2 category.

RML arrive at Spa after having announced that Andy Wallace will be joining the team for the Le Mans weekends in June. At Spa, the familiar pairing of Tommy Erdos and Mike Newton will be hoping for better luck than they had in Istanbul when, they were unceremoniously shunted in to the pitwall, by French firebrand Jean Marc Gounon on the startline.

Binnie Motorsport make their European debut with the newly installed Zytek engine in their B05/40 chassis this weekend. Team boss Bill Binnie was delighted with the teams competitive Sebring outing and with Sam Hancock in the car this weekend another top result should be within their grasp. "I love Spa and have always gone well there," enthused Hancock earlier this week. "The Lola is such a fantastic car to drive and now that we have real power I feel that we can be in contention for class pole and a have a cracking race. The test we did at Donington last week went extremely well so we will be in great shape."

Qualifying for the Spa 1000kms takes place on Saturday lunchtime at 14.30 cet with the race starting at 12.00cet on Sunday.

You can watch highlights of the race on Motors TV at 21.00cet on Sunday evening.

Previous Lola performances at Spa
Year	Series	Team	Drivers	Car	Result
2005	Le Mans Endurance Series	CMS	Berridge/Owen/Evans	Lola B05/40	1st
2005	Le Mans Endurance Series	RML	Erdos/Newton	Lola B05/40	3rd
2004	Le Mans Endurance Series	Tracsport	Ingram/Gaw/Pearson	Lola B2K/40	17th
2004	Le Mans Endurance Series	RML	Erdos/Newton	Lola B01/60	5th
2003	FIA Sportscar Championship	Taurus	Oberto/Keen/Lavaggi	Lola B2K/10	4th
2002	FIA Sportscar Championship	SRTS	Bjork/Loven	Lola B2K/40	3rd
2003	FIA Sportscar Championship	Speedsport	Berridge/Plato	Lola B98/10	4th
2001	FIA Sportscar Championship	Kremer	Hancock/De Radigues	Lola B982K10	DNF
2001	FIA Sportscar Championship	SRTS	Oberto/Bjork/Goddard	Lola B2K/40	5th
2000	SportsRacing World Cup	Kremer	Vann/De Radigues/Glasel	Lola B982K10	3rd
1999	SportsRacing World Cup	DAMS	Bernard/Gounon	Lola B98/10	DNF