Following the announcement in December of their alliance, Status Grand Prix and HVM Racing confirmed Thursday that they have this week filed a formal entry application for the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship. The Silverstone- and Indianapolis-based organizations have committed to running a latest-specification Lola Coupe in the LMP2 class in all eight rounds of the World Championship.
Status has competed in sports car racing since 2006, when it prepared and ran an Aston Martin GT1 in selected FIA GT events and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After again preparing a customer car for Le Mans, this time for the LMP2 class in 2011, Status entered its own LMP2 Lola Coupe in the 2012 European Le Mans Series, as well as selected WEC rounds and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. HVM has competed in the IZOD IndyCar Series for the last five years.
"We are excited to be in the WEC championship and believe strongly in its future,” said HVM team principal Keith Wiggins. “We believe we have a very strong program with HVM, Status GP, Lola and Multimatic. We could not have hoped for such a strong start with experienced partners all together. We are now focusing on those strengths for the start of the season and we will soon have news on the technical progress. It is good to be working with the Lola engineers once more, now with Multimatic's added resources."
HVM Status is expected to continue with the BMW-based Judd HK engine, which is being enlarged in capacity from 3.6 to four litres for 2013.
Speaking on behalf of Status, Mark Gallagher said, "We are pleased to have taken this step, being not only very confident in the capabilities for the LMP2 Lola Coupe after the good learning curve last year, but recognizing the additional strengths brought to the program through the collaboration with HVM Racing. The stability of Lola's commitment to sports prototype racing through the new partnerships it has put in place adds to our confidence. It's a great package and one very worthy of a full WEC LMP2 assault."