CHAMPCAR/CART: Lola Cars 2001 season review

Exceptional Champ Car Season for Lola Cars International
Ten victories in 20 events highlight campaign

The 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series season has been successful for Lola Cars, with ten Lola victories among twenty worldwide Champ Car events. Lola wins were achieved on every type of circuit the tour visits: permanent road courses, short ovals, street circuits and superspeedways.

Despite servicing one-third (nine) of the standard twenty-six-car Champ Car field, Lola chassis carried half the victories, with two of three CART engine makers powering these wins. (In 2001, no Honda teams selected Lola chassis; that changes for 2002.) Team Penske, which utilized its facilities in Poole, England to develop the basic Reynard chassis, achieved most of our competitor's victories. Under those circumstances, the Lola B1/00 chassis carried the season, if not the constructor's title, as five Reynard victories were achieved with the standard chassis and five with Penske's imprimatur.

Ford-Cosworth engines made seven trips to Victory Lane and six were achieved with Lola carriage; of Toyota's six wins, four came with Lola cars. Next season, Fernandez Racing will carry their Honda engines in Lola chassis, reuniting co-owner/driver Adrian Fernandez and co-owner Tom Anderson (previously at Team Target) with their many friends at Lola Cars.

Lola Cars attained eight pole positions for the 20-race CART FedEx campaign, on permanent road courses, short ovals and superspeedways. Team Rahal accounted for all but one of those pole positions; rookie Bruno Junqueira and Team Target gained the top starting spot at Nazareth Speedway in early May. Team Rahal garnered six victories for Lola Cars over the 20-race schedule, four by Kenny Brack and two with Max Papis. Newman-Haas Racing had three wins, courtesy of Cristiano da Matta and Team Target took one with Junqueira. Team Rahal's Kenny Brack, second in the championship standings, was the overwhelming lap leader for the season, driving the #8 Shell Lola/Ford at the front for 621 laps in 2001, 210 more than his closest challenger.

"These results show that Champ Car drivers have a better chance to win with a Lola chassis beneath them," stated Daniel S. Partel, president of U.S.-based Lola Cars International Inc. "Our B1/00 has been successful everywhere CART raced in the 2001 season; with all three Champ Car engine suppliers on board for 2002, we are better positioned for an assault on both the constructors and drivers championships."

-Lola Cars-