Two Lolas. Two Championship Battles. One Extraordinary Finale.
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola · October 2026
There are challenging race weekends, and then there are weekends that test absolutely everything a team has to give. At the final round of the 2026 Peter Auto Le Mans Classic Series, Legacy Outlaws Racing arrived with both the Lola T70 in CER1 and the Lola T292 in CER2 still fighting for their respective championships.
What followed was an extraordinary weekend of engine trouble, late-night teamwork, qualifying drama and two fiercely contested races. By Sunday evening, the official Imola race results suggested that both championship titles might be within reach — although the final championship standings are still awaiting official confirmation.
Thursday and Friday | Two Very Different Starts
The story began back in June at Dijon, when a broken rocker brought an early end to the Lola T70’s running with its race engine.
After months away for repair, the engine was finally delivered back to the UK just two weeks before Imola. Chris Beck and Chief Engineer Rob Bicknell set about reinstalling it in the car, ready for the final round.
The spare engine, which had served the team through qualifying and race at Dijon and subsequently at Paul Ricard and Estoril, was packed back into its flight case and loaded into the truck.
As it turned out, that decision would prove incredibly fortunate.
During Thursday’s testing at Imola, the T70 developed a persistent engine problem. Initially, the tickover was excessively high, but once that was resolved, a more serious issue emerged. Under load, the engine suffered from a misfire, hesitation and a noticeable lack of power.
The engineers worked through every possible cause. Adjustments were made, spark plugs changed, carburettors balanced and everything checked and rechecked.
By Friday practice, there was still no improvement.
Chris went out, only to return almost immediately. Further adjustments followed, another attempt was made, and once again the car came straight back in.
With qualifying scheduled for 10:00 on Saturday morning, time was running out.
At 5pm on Friday, the difficult decision was made.
The engine would have to come out. Again.
Across the awning, the T292 was enjoying a much smoother start to the weekend. Thursday testing and Friday practice gave Jan Magnussen and Chris Ward a chance to concentrate on pace rather than repairs.
The early signs were encouraging.
After one of his runs, Jan climbed out of the car wearing a huge smile.
“Feels fast!”
Just two words, but accompanied by that smile, they were exactly what the team wanted to hear.
Friday Night | The T70 Engine Change
What happened next was a wonderful example of what makes historic motorsport so special.
As the Legacy Outlaws crew began the enormous task of removing the recently installed engine and fitting the spare, help appeared from across the paddock.
The teams from No6 Racing, Britannia Motorsport and Maldon Salt Racing were all ready to lend a hand, working alongside our own engineers and mechanics to get the T70 back together.
There was no shortage of spanners, willing hands or determination.
And, in what seems to have become something of a traditional race weekend ritual, takeaway pizzas were collected and eaten in the truck so that work could continue uninterrupted.
As the rest of the paddock grew quiet, the work carried on.
Finally, around midnight, the replacement engine was installed and the team could head back to the hotel for a few precious hours of sleep.
By 7am on Saturday, everyone was back at the circuit.
Rob and Chris started the engine, warmed the car through and prepared for qualifying.
After everything that had happened, things were finally looking promising.
Or so we thought.
Saturday | T70 Qualifying: Fastest, but P14 on the Grid
Jan Magnussen climbed into the T70 for the opening stint of qualifying.
The green flag waved, the cars headed out of the pit lane and, for a brief moment, it looked as though the team’s extraordinary overnight efforts had paid off.
Then Jan came past with a puff of smoke.
He slowed and made his way back into the pits.
Oil was pouring from somewhere, and the cockpit was full of it.
With the clock ticking, there was no time to lose.
As Jan climbed out, the entire crew sprang into action, joined once again by the helpers who had been there the night before.
The seat was removed to gain access to the engine. Some began a methodical search for the source of the leak, while others fetched oil, cloths and brake cleaner to tackle the enormous clean-up operation.
The problem was eventually identified: a pipe had come loose.
What followed was a flurry of spanners, hands and activity as the team worked frantically to make the repair and get the car back onto the circuit.
With around 30 minutes of the session remaining, Jan was finally back behind the wheel.
And then came the moment everyone had been waiting for.
On only his second flying lap, Jan recorded a stunning 1:50.214, a full seven-tenths of a second faster than anyone else.
Purple sectors appeared on the timing screens, and after everything the team had been through, there was finally something to smile about.
The replacement engine was performing beautifully.
Jan completed another five laps before returning to the pits to hand over to Chris, with 15 minutes of qualifying still remaining.
But Imola wasn’t finished with us yet.
Just as Chris climbed into the car, the session was red-flagged.
It was never restarted.
Under the CER1 regulations, grid positions are determined using the combined qualifying performances of both drivers.
With approximately 70% of the field having been unable to complete their second-driver runs, the stewards decided, for safety reasons, to use the second drivers’ times from Friday practice to calculate the averages.
For Legacy Outlaws, this created yet another problem.
Due to the engine issues on Friday, Chris hadn’t completed a timed lap in practice either.
Despite Jan having set the fastest lap of qualifying, the team was moved from what would have been P1 to P14 on the grid, at the back of the over-two-litre prototype class.
After all the hard work, it was an incredibly frustrating outcome.
With the championship still undecided and our main rivals starting at the front, Sunday’s race was going to require something very special.
Saturday | T292 Qualifying: P3 in a Closely Fought Field
Both drivers delivered strong performances in qualifying.
Jan recorded a lap of 1:46.464, while Chris posted a 1:47.110, giving the pair a combined average of 1:46.787.
It was enough for third on the grid, just 0.371 seconds behind pole-sitter Stéphane Nguyen and only 0.197 seconds behind Guenat in second.
The margins were incredibly close, but there was an important difference between the three cars at the front.
Both Nguyen and Guenat were in the larger three-litre DFV-engined cars and, racing solo, carried none of the additional penalties that Legacy Outlaws faced.
Jan and Chris would have to serve an extra 35 seconds during their mandatory pit stop for driver classification and Burden of Glory penalties.
Meanwhile, our closest championship rivals, Sinclair and Hall, would start their T292 from ninth on the grid with an additional 25-second penalty.
With the championship at stake, there was plenty to think about before Sunday’s race.
Sunday Morning | The T70 Fights Back
Sunday morning arrived, with the CER1 race scheduled for 09:50.
Jan would take the start, with Breitmeyer on pole and our main championship rival, Mille, alongside him in second.
The task was enormous.
But if anyone could fight his way through the field, it was Jan.
And he wasted absolutely no time.
P14 to P6 on the opening lap.
By the end of lap two, he was already up to fourth.
Then the safety car appeared.
For once, the timing worked in our favour. The field closed up, eliminating the gaps to the leaders and giving Jan an opportunity to continue his charge.
Eighteen minutes into the race, he was running third, directly behind Mille, who was chasing Breitmeyer.
Two minutes later, Jan was through into second place and, crucially, ahead of our main championship rival.
The battle for the lead was now on.
With backmarkers beginning to come into play, Jan got a better run out of Tosa and made a spectacular move around the outside of Breitmeyer at Piratella.
From P14 to P1.
It was an extraordinary drive.
Unfortunately, the pit window was approaching rapidly, leaving little time to build the advantage needed for the mandatory stop and additional penalties.
The T70 Pit Stop and the Final-Lap Twist
With just over 29 minutes remaining on the race clock, Jan entered the pits with a lead of almost nine seconds.
The team executed the driver change, but the T70 had to serve an additional 35 seconds for the driver classification and Burden of Glory penalties.
Chris took over, rejoining the race in ninth position.
There was still plenty of work to do.
Immediately, Chris began pushing, working his way back through the field as the laps counted down.
With 20 minutes remaining, he had climbed to fifth, while Mille was running second.
The championship battle was far from settled.
Then, with 13 minutes to go, another safety car was deployed.
Overtaking was no longer permitted, and Chris’s charge was brought to a frustrating halt.
When the safety car finally came in with just one minute and 30 seconds left on the clock, there was time for only a final-lap dash to the flag.
Unfortunately, a backmarker GT40 directly ahead of Chris failed to maintain the pace of the cars in front. With overtaking prohibited until the control line, Chris was powerless to do anything as the leading group pulled away.
By the time racing resumed, the gap was enormous.
It was a bitterly frustrating situation after such an incredible fightback.
But the drama wasn’t over.
On that final racing lap, Mille made a mistake, and car number 35 spun, dropping from second to third.
At the chequered flag, the order on the road was:
Breitmeyer
Pereira
Mille
Roddaro
Ward / Magnussen
But there were penalties still to be applied.
Pereira had overtaken under the safety car and received a 33-second penalty.
Roddaro had also overtaken under safety car conditions, twice, and was handed a one-lap penalty.
When the final classification was confirmed, Legacy Outlaws Racing had been promoted to third overall, directly behind Mille.
Based on the final official Imola race classification and our understanding of the championship points, the third-place finish appears to have put the T70 in a position to take the 2026 CER1 title.
We are awaiting Peter Auto’s confirmation of the final championship standings.
Sunday Midday | From a D-Type Podium to a T292 Clutch Scare
Sunday morning was already proving busy for Chris, who had just stepped out of the Jaguar D-Type he shared with Toby Smith in the Gentlemen’s Challenge race, having finished an excellent second.
There was barely time to enjoy the result before attention turned to the T292 and the CER2 race, scheduled to start at 12:05.
As Chris left the assembly area to make his way to the grid, he noticed something rather worrying.
Fluid on the floor.
With very little time before the start, Phil and Ben were on hand to investigate, but there was almost nothing that could be done at such short notice.
Then came one of the more memorable moments of the weekend.
Phil quickly removed his sock and handed it to Ben to mop up the fluid.
Ben’s expression at that particular moment was apparently quite a picture!
It was an improvised solution, but there were more pressing concerns.
The source of the fluid soon became apparent.
Clutch fluid.
Not exactly what you want to discover moments before the final race of the season, especially with a championship on the line.
Fortunately, the clutch held out long enough for Chris to get the T292 off the line.
The race was on.
The T292 Race | Taking on the Three-Litre Cars
Starting third, Chris had his work cut out.
Both cars ahead were powered by three-litre DFV engines, giving them a significant power advantage over the two-litre Lola.
Despite the clutch issue, Chris immediately found his rhythm and was the fastest car on track during the opening laps.
Ahead, Guenat was pushing Nguyen hard for the lead, while Chris maintained the pressure, waiting for an opportunity or a mistake.
Fifteen minutes into the race, the two leaders swapped places, but Nguyen wasn’t about to surrender without a fight.
The battle at the front was becoming increasingly intense.
Nguyen was the first of the leaders to pit, temporarily promoting Chris to second place.
Then, just over a lap later, the race took another twist.
Full Course Yellow, a Push Start and More Penalties
A Full Course Yellow was declared, requiring every car on the circuit to slow to 80 km/h.
For Guenat, the timing was ideal. He could make his mandatory pit stop while the rest of the field was circulating at reduced speed, gaining a significant strategic advantage.
Chris also headed for the pits, but by then the green flags were flying again.
With the additional 35-second penalty to serve, the team already knew there would be a considerable amount of ground to recover.
As Chris climbed out, he quickly briefed Jan and the crew about the clutch problem.
A conventional getaway was going to be difficult, so Chris, Rob, Chris Beck and Ben lined up behind the T292, ready to push-start Jan out of the pit stop.
Once again, the crew had to improvise under pressure.
Jan rejoined in fourth position, but the gap to the leader had grown to a daunting 82 seconds, with three-litre cars occupying all three positions ahead.
There was only one thing to do.
Push.
The T292 | A Final Charge to the Flag
With 13 minutes remaining, the safety car was deployed.
It should have offered an opportunity to close the gaps, but there was bad news for Legacy Outlaws.
Chris had been handed a 33-second penalty for failing to reduce his speed quickly enough when the Full Course Yellow was declared.
Then came another blow.
Jan had already committed to an overtake when the safety car was called, resulting in a further 33-second penalty.
Suddenly, the team was facing 66 seconds of additional penalties on top of the 35 seconds already served at the pit stop.
And with no radio communication to the driver, there was no easy way to explain the situation to Jan.
Running fourth on the road, the priority was now to build as large a gap as possible to Hyett in fifth.
The PUSH board came out from the pit wall.
With just nine minutes remaining, the green flags flew once again.
Jan needed no further encouragement.
With six minutes remaining, Guenat made a mistake and Nguyen was perfectly placed to take advantage, reclaiming the lead.
What followed was some fantastic wheel-to-wheel racing between the two three-litre cars, with the lead changing hands as they fought for the final victory of the season.
Behind them, Jan was closing rapidly on Scemama in third.
Despite the penalties hanging over the team, he continued to push.
With less than five minutes remaining, Jan made his move and took third place.
The T292 crossed the finish line third overall on the road and first in the two-litre class.
Once the penalties were applied, the final classification placed Legacy Outlaws fourth overall, still a full minute ahead of the fifth-placed car.
It had been another hard-fought race, with plenty of unexpected challenges, but the team had achieved exactly what was needed.
Two Championship Battles – Could It Really Be a Double?
As the dust settles on an extraordinary weekend at Imola, there may be one final chapter still to be written.
Based on the final official race results from Imola and our calculations of the championship points, it looks as though Legacy Outlaws Racing may have done enough to secure not just one, but both of the 2026 Peter Auto Le Mans Classic Series championships in CER1 and CER2.
We are still awaiting official confirmation of the final championship standings, so we’re not quite ready to celebrate those titles just yet.
But if our calculations are correct, what an incredible achievement it would be.
Two Lolas. Two Championships. One Team.
And after everything this season has thrown at us, perhaps the most fitting conclusion we could have hoped for.
More Than Just Racing – A Team to Be Proud Of
There are weekends in motorsport that you remember for the results, and others that stay with you because of what it took to achieve them.
Imola will certainly be remembered for both.
From the engine problems that threatened to end our T70’s weekend before qualifying had even begun, to the extraordinary efforts of the crew working late into Friday night, the qualifying drama, the clutch problems on the T292 and the battles fought on track, this was a weekend that tested every single member of Legacy Outlaws Racing.
And not once did anyone give up.
What makes this team special isn’t simply the speed of our cars or the talent of our drivers. It’s the people behind them.
The engineers and mechanics who work tirelessly, often long after everyone else has gone home. The people who find solutions when there don’t appear to be any. The drivers who climb into the cars knowing exactly how much effort has gone into getting them onto the grid.
And the friendships within the paddock that remind us why we love historic motorsport.
Our heartfelt thanks go to No6 Racing, Britannia Motorsport and Maldon Salt Racing, whose willingness to roll up their sleeves and help us on Friday night was something we won’t forget.
To Jan and Chris, who delivered some extraordinary performances under immense pressure, thank you for giving absolutely everything.
And to every single member of our Legacy Outlaws crew, both at the circuit and behind the scenes, we couldn’t be prouder of what you’ve achieved.
It’s easy to celebrate when everything goes to plan. It’s when things go wrong that the true character of a team shines through.
And at Imola, ours certainly did.
We’ve enjoyed some remarkable highs throughout 2026, but there have also been frustrations, mechanical failures, difficult decisions and countless hours of hard work that few people ever get to see.
Whatever the final championship standings confirm, nobody can take away what this team has accomplished.
But wouldn’t it be wonderful if, after all of that, we could finish the season as champions in both CER1 and CER2?
For now, we wait for official confirmation. But one thing is certain: we couldn’t be prouder of our team.
BUILT ON HERITAGE. DRIVEN TO WIN.
Legacy Outlaws Racing
