Lola-Audi (merged)

**Bentley03** · 29 Jan 2007, 09:54 (Ref:1828409)

(Source Daily Sportscar)

Just when we thought the LMP1 news for 2007 couldn't get any bigger, here's the announcement to top them all............

With Serge Saulnier's departure, the Swiss Spirit operation has moved to Geneva and will be run by Fred Stadler. The team will race a Lola B07/10 in the 2007 Le Mans Series (and Le Mans if they get an invite) powered by the Audi V8 FSI engine. Stadler's long association with Audi has enabled this deal to be put together (it's a three year engine deal).

The car will be driven by Jean-Denis Deletraz (the main man behind this venture) and Marcel Fassler.

Oh yes, bring it on..........

TheNewBob · 29 Jan 2007, 09:56 (Ref:1828410)

Nice, is that basically the same engine from the R8?

Graham Goodwin · 29 Jan 2007, 10:02 (Ref:1828414)

Yup

**Bentley03** · 29 Jan 2007, 10:02 (Ref:1828415)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNewBob

Nice, is that basically the same engine from the R8?

Yep, it's exactly the same engine. The engine deal is exclusive to Swiss Spirit for three years. The team are receiving a huge amount of technical support from Audi whose motivation is to prove that the petrol/diesel equivalency regs are correct.

This project probably explains Audi's absence from the Le Mans Series this year (as a factory team with the R10).

Graham Goodwin · 29 Jan 2007, 10:04 (Ref:1828416)

Interesting on every level - not just in terms of the potential of the effort but also technically and politically.

The Badger · 29 Jan 2007, 10:08 (Ref:1828422)

Battle of the Lola's !!!

AER v's Judd v's Audi ....... This is like a christmas stocking , you dont know what to expect !!!

I never would have dreamed up a Lola-Audi .

That AER powered car will certainly not be a match for the other 2 , the driver line up should see to that .
Hope they keep the Swiss Spirit colors too .

http://www.endurance-info.com/articl...rder=0&thold=0

Just found this pic at End-info . It seems to have the same R8 intake's too ? Early days though .

Whats this then , a Lola B07/1R8 ?

Guess that leaves Picinni free for AMR at Le Mans then ?

**Bentley03** · 29 Jan 2007, 10:31 (Ref:1828428)

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Badger

This is like a christmas stocking........

Isn't it though..... I'm sitting here in a complete daze.........

isynge · 29 Jan 2007, 10:35 (Ref:1828433)

Genuinely staggered by this one. Hugely exciting news and very much throws cat amongst pigeons.

Only reservations are the comment about the sheer volume of technical work that remains to be done and that they won't be a Paul Ricard in March, and whether the driver line up is as front line as it could be - no quibbles about Fassler but Deletraz to my eyes hasn't done much to set the world alight, those two class wins at Le Mans and the Creation run at Istanbul notwithstanding.

Other thought - could they engage in a bit of badge engineering and get the third Audi Le Mans invite (the one that mentioned the R8)?

Finally, if this ushers in Audi as playing more of a supplier role to customer teams then the future really could be bright.

zac510 · 29 Jan 2007, 10:36 (Ref:1828434)

That's a massive deal! Will be great to watch.

allyk · 29 Jan 2007, 10:47 (Ref:1828439)

Wow. I'm speechless (well virtually!)

Just thinking about the LMS and Le Mans this year has got my pulse racing. This could be a classic year. It's a shame that the ALMS is struggleing in comparrison on numbers in the P1 and GT1 classes

Roll on Monza

brielga · 29 Jan 2007, 11:17 (Ref:1828456)

Fantastic news, I hope I can swallow my words when I said 60 cars were not achievable. What about getting a decent crowd to the circuits now????

KaspervG · 29 Jan 2007, 11:27 (Ref:1828466)

wow! who would've expected this!

Still I think that they will be battling for the best of the rest prizes.

By the way, will they have the old audi transmission too?

KA · 29 Jan 2007, 11:58 (Ref:1828501)

Quote:

Originally Posted by isynge

Genuinely staggered by this one. Hugely exciting news and very much throws cat amongst pigeons.

Other thought - could they engage in a bit of badge engineering and get the third Audi Le Mans invite (the one that mentioned the R8)?

Audi Sport Switzerland?

It really does throw the cat amongst the pigeons in a lot of ways- the last thing I'd ever expected was to see the Audi FSI engine available to a privateer in this way. Interesting that it's an exclusive deal for Swiss Spirit- I'd love to know how they pulled that off...

Truckosaurus · 29 Jan 2007, 12:10 (Ref:1828513)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bentley03

...The team are receiving a huge amount of technical support from Audi whose motivation is to prove that the petrol/diesel equivalency regs are correct...

Sandbags ahoy!

Seriously, this can only be good news, and it will be interesting to see how the Audi engine performs in a non-VAG chassis.

**FIRE** · 29 Jan 2007, 12:11 (Ref:1828514)

An Audi engine for a customer team?! It's the biggest surprise of the pre-season.

cptkablamo · 29 Jan 2007, 12:41 (Ref:1828531)

Well I'm shocked - in a very good way...a very exciting venture, but I do agree with FIRE, the most surprising part of this is that Audi are letting an Audi engine in a different car...

isynge · 29 Jan 2007, 12:47 (Ref:1828538)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Truckosaurus

Sandbags ahoy!

Seriously, this can only be good news, and it will be interesting to see how the Audi engine performs in a non-VAG chassis.

I don't know, if this is a gamble on having an Audi petrol motor beat a Peugeot diesel thanks to relative development timescales it looks like a hell of a risk to me.

Similarly, there are still a couple of doubts in my mind as to the overall out of the box competitiveness of this effort.

First, a lot of the success the R8 had latterly was down to the perfection of the Joest/Champion operations - they were seldom the outright fastest over a single lap, but they were unquestionably more resilient when problems came their way, will RoC be up to that (or will we see lots of people from Ingolstadt in the Swiss Spirit pit?).

Second, is the Lola the equal of the R8? Elsewhere there have been questions raised about whether it has the potential to be one of the great chassis out there - sure they've sold a lot of them and the LMP2 car is spectacular, but competition in LMP1 is likely to be stiff.

Third, do they have the time to develop the car and operation? We know they won't be at Paul Ricard and it's not that long until Monza.

Fourth, and finally, if you look at the driver lineup there are stronger ones out there (both Peugeots, certainly the lead Pescarolo, probably one of the Courages, etc). It's not bad and they won't disgrace themselves, but it doesn't feel as frontline as it might.

In my mind this feels like a highly solid customer effort with a very powerful engine supplier, but somewhat less like a works outfit in disguise.

Ranald · 29 Jan 2007, 13:02 (Ref:1828543)

Quite staggering news I must say. This season is going to be quite amazing if it's build up is anything to go by. Six races doesn't seem enough for the LMS now does it?!

PS. Is anyone having trouble over at DaliySportscar? The menu to the left won't load up. I'm getting a little paraniod that I might be missing out on some big news (as if this story wasn't big enough for me!)

The Badger · 29 Jan 2007, 13:04 (Ref:1828546)

Quote:

Originally Posted by cptkablamo

Well I'm shocked - in a very good way...a very exciting venture, but I do agree with FIRE, the most surprising part of this is that Audi are letting an Audi engine in a different car...

Was Fassler driving for Audi in the DTM ? Maybe a connection there if so .

I think Delatraz is a little better than his results show , he can be quick .

The Badger · 29 Jan 2007, 13:08 (Ref:1828547)

Quote:

Originally Posted by isynge

I don't know, if this is a gamble on having an Audi petrol motor beat a Peugeot diesel thanks to relative development timescales it looks like a hell of a risk to me.

Wouldnt that be a laugh !!!

KA · 29 Jan 2007, 13:10 (Ref:1828550)

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Badger

Was Fassler driving for Audi in the DTM ? Maybe a connection there if so .

No, Fasslers DTM career was with Mercedes and Opel

Don't forget that the car will be prepared by ROC, who do have a substantial history with Audi's touring car programmes in Europe

KA · 29 Jan 2007, 13:12 (Ref:1828552)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ranald

PS. Is anyone having trouble over at DaliySportscar? The menu to the left won't load up. I'm getting a little paraniod that I might be missing out on some big news (as if this story wasn't big enough for me!)

yes, same problem...

Ranald · 29 Jan 2007, 13:22 (Ref:1828557)

The DSC problem seems to have been cured.

Graham Goodwin · 29 Jan 2007, 13:23 (Ref:1828558)

Mystery problem - being worked on right now! (and no you aren't missing anything else!!)

And As I type this it pops back up - Server hiccup!

vorsprung · 29 Jan 2007, 13:52 (Ref:1828581)

I thought we'd never see that engine racing again. I hope they'll be ready for Monza.

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