GROUP LOTUS TO CONSIDER INDY, SPORTS CAR RACING

Lotus is investigating a return to Indycar, GT racing and Le Mans, as well as a deeper involvement in Formula 1 under new CEO Dany Bahar, according to Autocar.
“Lotus will return to motorsport,” Bahar told Lotus employees. “We will investigate participation in IndyCar Series, GT and Le Mans racing among other series around the globe to demonstrate the shared technology. I believe that this [motorsport] is the perfect platform to showcase our capabilities; racing is part of our heritage and even today the technology in our road cars is derived from racing,” he said.
Bahar also confirmed there was no direct link between his firm, Group Lotus, and the new team entering F1 next year, Team Lotus. Parent firm Proton owns the Team Lotus name and has given permission for a Malaysian-backed consortium to use it on its F1 cars next year. Team Lotus will initially be based in Norfolk, England, before moving to Malaysia in the future. Although there is no direct financial involvement between Team and Group Lotus, the two firms would be liaising and Bahar refused to rule out a full return to the sport in the future.
Bahar, who has previously worked for the Ferrari and Red Bull F1 teams, confirmed the legendary Lotus name would make a prominent comeback to motorsport to return to the days last seen under Colin Chapman.

LOTUS BOSS CHASING EXPERIENCED NAMES

“We are certainly campaigning for Petronas to come over to us," said Fernandes.

"We think it is logical as a Malaysian team that they should be somehow involved in it. But we'll have to make our case."

"My personal preference would be to try to get someone with lots of experience, even though he may be ending his career, who can add a lot of experience and develop the car," Fernandes said.

"Having the right personality that can transfer knowledge and enjoy working with people, I think is critical...there's no point throwing someone in at the deep end if he's not ready either."

Although Lotus’s technical operation, led by former Force India man Mike Gascoyne, will initially be based in Norfolk, the team will eventually move to a new facility at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit.

LOTUS CONFIRMED FOR 2010 AS FIA PUSHES FOR 14 TEAMS

Company Name: 1Malaysia F1 Team Sdn Bhd
Team Name: Lotus F1 Team
Country: Malaysia
Team Principal: Tony Fernandes
A partnership between the Malaysian Government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs, 1Malaysia F1 Team returns the Lotus name as a constructor to Formula One for the first time since 1994. The team will initially be based at the RTN facility in Norfolk, UK, some 10 miles from the Lotus Cars factory. A 50,000 square foot fully equipped facility, RTN was built by Toyota for its initial Formula One programme and then used by Bentley for its successful Le Mans programme.