Lola perform rebuild miracle after controversial seven-figure Formula E crash

Lola has completed a remarkable rebuild of Zane Maloney’s car ahead of this weekend’s Madrid E-Prix, following Izzy Hammond’s controversial crash during Formula E’s Evo Sessions event.

Maloney’s participation in the sixth round of the season at the Circuito del Jarama has only been possible thanks to an incredible effort by the Kempten-based team, with final touches being conducted in the garage. 

It was forced to rebuild the car from scratch after Hammond — the daughter of former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond — crashed heavily at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit during the influencer event.

The accident measured 25G and destroyed Maloney’s car, which had been used for the event. Miraculously, Hammond walked away unscathed — unlike the car — with the repair bill in the region of €1,000,000.

Why 10 influencers were allowed to drive at speed around one of the most dangerous circuits remains a major frustration in the paddock, with it likely to forever be a controversial moment never to be forgotten.

As part of the agreement between the teams and the series surrounding the Evo Sessions event, Formula E Operations is covering the repair costs, which team principal Mark Preston confirmed are being "dealt with in all sorts of different ways".

For Lola, the five-week gap since the last round in Jeddah has been essential simply to allow sufficient time to rebuild an entire car.

Asked whether any part of the car was salvageable, Preston told RacingNews365: "I don’t actually know. I think we just assumed we had to repair everything and start from scratch.

"I’d say that if there was anything repairable, it will probably be put into the spares pool to service the rest of the year.

"But I think the intention was just to build a new car, and then we’ll figure out what we can do with spares for the rest of the year."

Lola's complicated rebuild

The repair of Maloney’s car was further delayed, with the wrecked chassis encountering issues while leaving Saudi Arabia.

This created additional difficulties for Lola in determining what needed repairing, with “guesses” having to be made about which parts were required.

To add to the challenge, the necessary parts came from several locations, including its Kempten base in Germany, technical partner Yamaha in Japan, and Spark Racing Technologies in France.

In addition, its partners now need to manufacture further components to ensure sufficient spares are available for the remainder of the season. Unsurprisingly, Lola has no interest in participating in future Evo Sessions events.

"There were delays with the chassis leaving Jeddah," Preston explained. "So, of course, the team had to make some — let’s call them — guesses as to what was needed to repair the car at the track, get it packed up, and prepare it for transport.

"Then we all obviously flew home, and it was further delayed. So until it arrived in Kempten, we couldn’t be 100% sure: was there anything salvageable? Was there anything to fix? Could we use anything?

"In the background, the team were working out which spares were coming from which locations, what we already had in Germany, and so on. So it was quite a logistical effort for everybody."