Lola customer sportscar teams were out in force at last weekends season opening 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida.
It was a tough week for the BP Mazda Dyson Racing team, who put in 103 hours of work in six days of preparation for the 57th running of the 12 Hours. Team Principal Rob Dyson said he had never seen such a focused effort in all of his years of racing. He and Mazda were very proud of the team’s efforts to prepare the two new LMP2 Mazda Lola Coupes for America’s premier endurance race.
Sadly, racing can just as easily penalise hard work as reward it. The #16 car of Chris Dyson, Guy Smith, and Andy Lally retired after five hours with the #20 entry of Butch Leitzinger, Marino Franchitti and Ben Devlin coming to a halt fifteen minutes later with unrelated mechanical issues. The Dyson entries were running second and third in LMP2 when the problems occurred. The race marked the Dyson Racing debut of British racer Ben Devlin in the Mazda Lola Coupe.
On Thursday the Dyson drivers qualified second and third in class for the Florida classic. The drivers reiterated their pre-season enthusiasm for the 2009 Package. Leitzinger, fourteen years a Dyson driver, said “I am running at a very easy pace and everything feels good on the car.” Franchitti affirmed that view and said on the radio that “this chassis is fantastic.”
Chris Dyson was philosophical about the result. Admitting that he was frustrated at not being able to challenge for the win, he was quick to note that “This week has been a very productive time for us. The hours here have been well spent as there is no tougher environment to sort out a new car than the runways of Sebring. We took a conservative approach to the week. We know the car has more speed in it and we will go to St. Petersburg in two weeks time well positioned in our knowledge base for the rest of the season.”
Also racing at Sebring were two Lola LMP1 entries in the shape of Intersport Racing and Autocon Motorsport. Despite much promise early in the race both AER engined cars eventually retired.
