The time has finally come. After months of anticipation, B-K Motorsports will roll out with it’s brand-new car in this weekend’s Petit Le Mans powered by the Totally New MAZDA6, the penultimate round of the American Le Mans Series season. Ben Devlin and Gerardo Bonilla will pilot the stunning new Lola B08/86 Mazda Coupe in the 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance race at Road Atlanta.
The Wisconsin-based team is the first ALMS squad to take delivery of Lola’s B08/80 Coupe, an evolution of the B07/46 open-top prototype that it’s campaigned over the past two seasons. The project to create the closed-top car began in December 2006 under the leadership of Lola designer Julian Sole. While built on the platform of Lola’s successful LMP2 car, the B08/80 features significant enhancements over its predecessor.
Over 310 hours of wind tunnel time was utilized to perfect the aerodynamics of the car. Engineers also improved the lift/drag ratio, revised the front suspension geometry and made the B08/80 more drivable through ride height adjustments. All of this adds up to a more refined package.
“We’re all obviously very excited about the new car,” Devlin said. “It’s great for the team and everyone who has put countless hours in to get it ready. Mazda’s increased support and the teamwork from our partners has been great as well. We’ve moved forward with the tires earlier this year, and now we have a new chassis. Hopefully, we’ll have good things with the new Coupe.”
The team conducted a brief shakedown of the new car at Road America a few weeks ago and took part in a two-day test at Road Atlanta on Saturday and Sunday. All systems are go for the highly anticipated debut.
“It’s an exciting time for B-K Motorsports and the BP Lola Mazda LMP2 car,” Bonilla said. “Our new coupe is ready to go thanks to the hard work of our crew. Watching the entry list grow has only made looking forward to the race even more exciting. Road Atlanta is a really fun
track, near the top of many drivers favorite tracks list. I look forward to seeing my Skip Barber friends who are based in Atlanta as well as the rest of the ALMS paddock after our long break.”
“To see the new car on the track was a special moment for all of us at Mazda, the entire BK team, and all of our partners…especially everyone at BP Castrol, Dunlop, AER, and Lola. We are obviously hoping for a good week and will do all we can to insure a solid finish,” commented Mazda’s Manager of Motorsports Team Development, John Doonan.
Raphael Matos was set to drive with Devlin and Bonilla for this event, but informed the team last week he was unable to make the race.
“We were obviously looking forward to having Rafa drive with us here, but we are also happy for him as it appears some opportunities are developing for him to advance his motorsports career…definitely what we hope for through our Mazdaspeed Motorsports Development Ladder,” added Motorsports Team Development Manager, John Doonan.
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