RML has elected to switch to a closed coupe prototype for the final round of the Le Mans Series at
Silverstone, with the team having completed a shakedown of its new car at
Snetterton ahead of the race.
More than 70 per cent of the MG Lola EX265 has been carried over from the car that raced in the last round of the season at the Nurburging, but the team has now made the bold move to not only switch to the closed coupe chassis, but do so in the short space of time between races.
We have been considering the way forward for several months, Adam Wiseberg, director of motorsport for AD Group, principal sponsor of the RML sports prototype programme said. It became clear very early in the current season that the latest incarnation of what started life as the EX257, whilst having been tremendously competitive for the last three years in the LMP2 class, has reached the end of its useful life.
As a consequence we have been examining very carefully all the possible options open to us for the future, and we arrived at the conclusion that upgrading the chassis to a closed-cockpit configuration was the most effective.
The championship has already been won by Jos Verstappen and Van Merksteijn Motorsport. Doing the change at this stage gives us considerably more time with the car prior to the start of next season, and running at Silverstone offers a significant opportunity to compare the performance of the enclosed MG-Lola against other chassis configurations.
The gleaming MG Lola EX265C took to the Snetterton track for the very first time yesterday for its first run, with Erdos getting the chance to turn the initial laps behind the wheel the car amassing hours of virtually trouble-free running over the course of the day.
![Tommy Erdos/Mike Newton - RML MG Lola EX265 Coupe [Pic credit: Potts/CMC]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/487878.jpg)
