American Le Mans Series

Autocon to replace Lola EX257 with new car

© American Le Mans Series

Autocon Motorsports, one of the few LMP1 teams in the American Le Mans Series, is about to replace their ageing Lola EX257 with a new prototype. The current Lola EX257, which was built in 2002 and acquired by the team for the 2006 season, has been put on sale and the team is now going after a new car to be able to battle with the current frontrunners of the series (Audi, Acura, Porsche).
At the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg Autocon Motorsports` Chris McMurry confirmed to Planetlemans that the team will switch to another car in the near future. “We will run the Lola at Long Beach and Houston and then we will run our new, different chassis beginning at Salt Lake City.”

The future LMP1 plans of the team will be announced next week, but the reason behind replacing the car is clear. At Sebring and this weekend in St. Petersburg the car was not able to keep up with the pace of the all-new racecars from Audi, Acura and Porsche. To fight back the team needs a new car confirms McMurry. “The Lola is a great car, it is just a few years old and newer technology, as evidenced by current P2 times, and Audi, is showing us it is time to make a change.”

Planetlemans.com has been getting reports that Autocon will enter a Creation chassis from the Salt Lake City round on. We will do our best to get it confirmed and bring the news to you.

marcel@planetlemans.com