Sponsored by AD Group companies including Dedicated Micros, Remguard, and AD Aerospace, the MG Lola also had AD’s CEO and DM founder Mike Newton behind the wheel. Newton was joined by Brazilian Thomas Erdos – his regular co-driver – and former works MG driver Warren Hughes. “We are naturally delighted with this result,” Newton said, “given all the heart in mouth drama that led up to our victory.”
From the start, minor problems with cooling system and gear change put the team I last place after the first hour, but they knuckled down, making the MG Lola the fastest car in the class from that point on. By 17 hours they were leading their class, two laps ahead of the nearest rival, but were forced to undertake an entire re-build of the gearbox, dropping them to fifth in class. With around only two hours to go, a rear suspension component failed, causing the car, travelling at around 150mph, to spin wildly, just missing the wall on the inside of the circuit, and coming to rest inches from the outside tyre wall.
Again, after a superb effort by the mechanics, the car rejoined the race, this time in third place in its class. When the rival Courage cars suffered engine problems with 40 minutes of the 24 hours left to run, the MG Lola swept past them to lead the class once again, on the way to a well-deserved victory.
