After finishing the 1990 championship in sixth place with eleven points, achieving the best result in its history, Gérard Larrousse's team saw all of its points from the previous season temporarily annulled by the FIA during the winter of 1991 due to an alleged "false declaration" concerning the chassis design. Although acting in good faith, the Larrousse team had registered their LC90 cars declaring the chassis as self-constructed, whereas they were actually supplied by the British company Lola. Thanks to the intervention of Bernie Ecclestone, the team retained its position in the championship, thereby avoiding the need to participate in pre-qualifying and, more importantly, not losing the prize money and financial benefits related to travel subsidies awarded based on the previous season’s championship placement.
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| LARROUSSE-LOLA LC91, Eric Bernard Imola, San Marino GP 1991 |
However, Larrousse's troubles were far from over. The Espo Corporation, one of its shareholders, withdrew from the team shortly before the start of the season, leaving the small French outfit in a dire financial situation. To make matters worse, after two years of collaboration, Lamborghini also withdrew its support, opting instead to supply engines to Ligier. As a result, Larrousse was forced to switch to V8 Ford-Cosworth DFR engines, turning to Hart for the same power units used the previous year by Tyrrell, which had now moved to Mugen Honda engines.
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| LARROUSSE-LOLA LC91, Eric Bernard Montecarlo, Monaco GP 1991 |
The chaotic state of the small French team did not allow for major innovations for the new season, and the new LC91 was essentially a simple revision of the LC90 used the previous year. The few modifications made by Eric Broadley involved adjustments to the chassis to accommodate the Ford-Cosworth V8 engine and alterations to the suspension, necessary to adapt to the new setup due to the lighter and more compact engine, which affected weight distribution. The car's shape remained mostly unchanged, although the rear cover was further shortened and, notably, left completely open in the lower section, exposing the suspension, exhaust pipes, and gearbox.
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| LARROUSSE-LOLA LC91, Aguri Suzuki Phoenix, United States GP 1991 |
The livery also changed slightly, although it retained the distinctive multicolored scheme of 1990. In July 1991, Gérard Larrousse declared bankruptcy, selling part of the team to the Japanese group Central Park, which promptly changed the car’s livery to prominently feature the green of its logo. The season was nonetheless completed with the two original drivers from the Phoenix debut: Frenchman Éric Bernard and Japanese driver Aguri Suzuki, both retained from the previous season. The Japanese driver scored points in the first race of the season, but the rest of the year was a disaster, with eleven retirements and four failures to qualify. Things were no better for the Frenchman, who also retired eleven times and only saw the checkered flag twice, scoring points as well in the Hungarian Grand Prix. During practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the championship, Bernard suffered a leg fracture following an off-track excursion and was replaced in the final race in Australia by fellow Frenchman Bertrand Gachot, who had been cleared by British justice after his imprisonment in 1990.
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| LARROUSSE-LOLA LC91, Aguri Suzuki Hungaroring, Hungarian GP 1991 |
Following Larrousse's collapse, contracts with Lola for chassis supply and with Hart for engines were terminated, and neither supplier was paid. An attempted merger with the equally struggling AGS team also failed, leaving the outfit in a state of great uncertainty, having ended the season in eleventh place in the constructors’ standings with just 2 world championship points.
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