Lola considers return to Formula One

Ap
Wednesday 22 April 2009 18:12 BST
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Lola is considering a return to Formula One in 2010 now that the teams have been ordered to cut their budgets.

Lola, a familiar name in F1 from the 1960s, provided cars for top line drivers such as Graham Hill, John Surtees and Alan Jones. It dropped out after failing to produce a new car for the 1998 season, when many teams were unable to keep up with big-spending and dominant Ferrari, McLaren, Benetton and Williams.

Now that auto racing's governing body has ordered the teams to make big cuts to their spending, Lola can see a way back.

"The announcement that Formula One teams may opt for a prudent, financially responsible cost-capped regime from 2010 has resulted in us deciding to fully evaluate the opportunity to develop a car to compete in the FIA Formula One World Championship," Lola Group executive chairman Martin Birrane said Wednesday.

Lola has entered cars in endurance and other forms of racing and, with a manufacturing sports car factory in Huntingdon, eastern England, has the available technology to return to F1.

"The current necessity for Formula One to adopt a responsible approach in times of economic uncertainty has created the ideal conditions for us to consider developing a car for the world championship," said Birrane, who bought the group in 1997. "Lola possesses the technical resources, capability and know-how to develop cars capable of competing at the very highest levels of international motor sport, including Formula One."

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