Silverstone-based Lola Cars Ltd is returning to global motorsport in a multi-year technical partnership with Yamaha Motor Company and will enter the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship from Season 11. The iconic, globally renowned motorsport brand, which has more than 500 championship wins, is working with Yamaha to develop and supply a powertrain to compete in the world’s first all-electric, single-seater race series. With track racing deep in the DNA of both Lola Cars and Yamaha, this new technology partnership not only provides an opportunity to join the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship as it moves to the GEN3 Evo platform for the 2024/25 season but also creates opportunities across global motorsport and in the broader zero-emissions transportation space.

Mark Preston, Lola Cars’ motorsport director, said: “For us, this is more than just an opportunity to return Lola to the track, it is also a fantastic platform for technological development. Lola Cars has a decorated history of success in chassis and aerodynamic design. This project will allow us to create a unique electrified platform with a software focus at its core to provide a basis for Lola’s wider plans in defining the future of motorsport technology.”

The partnership is the first of several major projects planned to re-establish the British company as an industry leader in sustainable engineering and motorsport, strategically focusing on three areas of electrification, hydrogen and sustainable fuels and materials.

Till Bechtolsheimer, chairman of Lola Cars, added: “We are incredibly excited to be partnering with the Yamaha Motor Company as we enter the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. To be selected by one of the most innovative OEMs in the world to partner on a project of this significance is a testament to the calibre of the team that we have been building at Lola.

“The focus of this project is squarely around technological development in which Lola is fully invested. We see the highly efficient 350kW electric powertrain that underpins the manufacturer’s perimeter in Formula E, as a cornerstone technology with exciting applications across many forms of top flight international motorsport in the coming years.”

Sustainable motorsport
Heiji Maruyama, managing executive officer and director at Yamaha Motor Company, said: “We are accelerating the research and development of various technologies that contribute to sustainability. As the technical partner, we hope to acquire more advanced energy management technologies through the highest level of electric racing in Formula E. We also share Lola’s new philosophy of sustainable motorsport and we are very pleased and honoured to form this partnership.”

Since acquiring Lola Cars in 2022, Bechtolsheimer and his team have been developing their program from a new global headquarters in Silverstone, building on the legacy of the most successful manufacturer of customer race cars of all time.

Founded by Eric Broadley in 1958, Lola Cars has designed and produced nearly 5,000 race cars spanning 400 different model types, gaining unparalleled success in motorsport championships around the world, including IndyCar, Le Mans, Formula One, Can-Am, Formula 3000, Formula 5000, A1GP, Formula Ford and Touring Cars.

This partnership continues Lola Cars’ long-standing prominence in Japan. Lola Cars has a long history of involvement in Japanese motorsport, primarily in what is now known as the Japanese Super Formula Championship, winning 13 Championships in two decades from 1987 when it was known as the All Japan F3000. Lola has also notably partnered with Japanese manufacturers to create iconic vehicles across multiple racing disciplines including Formula One, IndyCar and Le Mans.