While the 2006 Champ Car World Series season finale in Mexico City witnessed arguably the most spectacular finish to a race this season, it also marked the end of a 40 year association between the series and car builder Lola.
After 194 race wins, three Indy 500s and five constructor title successes, Lola leaves Champ Cars with an unprecedented record in North America – with Panoz coming in as chassis supplier for the 2007 season.
In the final event,
Sebastien Bourdais duelled all race with the RuSPORT Lola of Justin Wilson in dry and then wet conditions. The Frenchman pulled off a stunning move to force his way by on the very last lap and won by 3.5 seconds.
Lola enjoyed considerable success throughout the 1980's and early part of the 1990's with legendary drivers such as
Mario Andretti, Bobby Rahal and
Nigel Mansell, but in recent times the company has performed perhaps one of the most remarkable comebacks in motorsport history after almost being forced to close its doors in 1997.
After the acquisition of the company by Martin Birrane in that same year, Lola re-gained its foothold in the then CART marketplace by investing in strong technical capabilities and excellent engineering staff. Going from a single entry in 1998 for the John Davis run and Arnd Meir driven T98/00 chassis, Lola developed their cars in to the quickest on the grid by utilising engineering strength, a new on-site wind tunnel and seven-post vehicle dynamic test rig.
Instrumental in Lola's return to the top was current Champ Car team owner, Keith Wiggins who worked tenaciously before sampling life from the other side of the fence with the Bettenhausen/Herdez team that later became known as CTE-Racing/HVM. 2000 was somewhat of a breakthrough year when Newman/Haas, Ganassi, Bettenhausen & Sigma joined the Lola ranks, making a total of seven Lola's on the grid. The cars proved to be competitive and scored six wins.
