Possible new manufacturer for ABT Cupra: Lola Cars & Yamaha ahead of Formula E entry in 2025

Lola Cars is rumoured to be on the verge of entering Formula E. According to Il Messaggero, the British company could even have registered with the FIA as a new manufacturer for the second half of the Gen3 era. Lola is said to have sought out Japanese car and motorbike manufacturer Yamaha as a partner. Nothing has been officially confirmed to date. However, the plans could be announced during the first Tokyo E-Prix, which takes place in just over a week's time.

Lola had already appointed a well-known name in Formula E as Motorsport Director at the end of 2022: Mark Preston, long-time Team Principal and CEO of the Techeetah team, which retired from the electric series at the end of the Gen2 era. Since then, Preston has been working on a return to the electric series.

"We now need to reposition ourselves and make a fresh start with the help of new investors and new partners for the future," Preston had already said at The Race in October 2022. As e-Formula.news has learnt from various sources, the time has now come - not with Techeetah, but with Lola.

In addition to Lola, Yamaha will also be on board as a technical partner. Representatives of the Japanese manufacturer have already been spotted in the paddock at the season opener in Mexico City. According to Electric Motor News, a second Japanese company could even help with the Formula E entry: Toyota. Whether and to what extent the automotive giant will be involved remains to be seen.

New powertrain option for ABT Cupra

After Porsche issued a rejection for the supply of customer powertrains to the previous Mahindra customer team ABT Cupra, a new potential partner has now emerged for the Kempten-based company. A way out for the team, which would certainly be very reluctant to use the barely competitive engines from ERT. After all, the contract with Mahindra, whose MGUs are at a similar level, was cancelled to the end of the tenth season for performance reasons.

Lola Cars is a legendary name in motorsport: founded in 1958 by Eric Broadley, the company made a name for itself by developing and manufacturing a wide variety of racing cars in formula and sports car racing. After a failed attempt to gain a foothold in Formula 1, the company ran into financial difficulties in 1997 and was sold to Martin Birrane. After a brief upswing, Lola Cars finally went bankrupt in 2012. Birrane died in 2018.

Till Bechtolsheimer, CEO of an investment company in New York and part-time racing driver, acquired the Lola brand and the intellectual property rights to over 400 Lola designs from Birrane's family in 2022. Since then, the Brit has been working to revitalise the brand. With Mark Preston on board, Formula E would be a logical choice.