# LMES Team SwissSpirit Announces Audi V8-Powered Lola Endurance Racecar for 2007



## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

Lola will be working with yet another high profile manufacturer in 2007 after it was announced today that the Geneva based Swiss Spirit team will race a Lola B07/10 in this years Le Mans 24 Hours and Le Mans Series with factory support from Audi. 
With an all Swiss driver line up of Marcel Fassler and Jean Denis Deletraz, the team are sure to be front runners with the Audi V8 bi-turbo powered Lola LMP1. Today's announcement means that Lola now have programmes involving three manufacturers; Acura (Honda), Mazda and now the manufacturer that has recently re-written the sportscar history books - Audi. 
Last season the Swiss Spirit team competed in a full European programme with the French, Courage chassis manufacturer. With Fassler continuing with the team for 2007 it was decided to upgrade to the Lola B07/10 chassis, that proved to be the only consistent challenger to the Audi R10's in last seasons American Le Mans Series. 
In charge of the new combination of Lola chassis and Audi engine will be experienced sportscar entrant and long standing Audi customer Fred Stalder, who ran Touring Cars for the German manufacturer in the 1980's and 1990's. Jean Denis Deletraz has a long and varied career in motorsport after racing for the French GDBA F3000 team in the later 1980's before making his Formula One debut for the Larousse team in 1994. 
Deletraz has also raced many sportscars and enjoyed success with Stalder's former team, ROC in 2001 and 2002 when they took victory in the LMP675 class at Le Mans. 
Marcel Fassler is acknowledged as one of the fastest sportscar drivers around and is a former test driver for the Sauber Formula One team. He was also a front runner in the DTM with Mercedes and Opel. 
Lola Cars International Ltd Managing Director, Rupert Manwaring said of the project: "This is a great opportunity to work with a fellow major player in International sportscar racing. The LMP1 has undergone a major update for the 2007 season. With these developments combined to the huge promise the design showed last season, it is another ringing endorsement of the trust that top teams and manufacturers have in Lola products." 
The Lola B07/10 has undergone a significant aerodynamic upgrade to achieve sizeable performance gains at low and medium downforce tracks. The new evolution of the LMP1 car will also feature suspension and transmission changes to further enhance the cars durability in 12 and 24 hour races.


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