Lotus (motorsport)
In the history of motorsport, various racing teams competed in several racing series under the name Lotus .
The most successful was the Formula 1 racing team Team Lotus , which was active in Formula 1 from 1958 to 1994 and won the drivers 'title six times and the constructors' title seven times.
In 2011, Lotus Cars supports teams in Formula 1, IndyCar Series , GP2 Series , GP3 Series and various GT championships. In Formula 1, between 2010 and 2011 with Lotus Racing and between 2011 and 2015 with the Lotus F1 Team, private racing teams under the name Lotus competed , but otherwise had no connection with the original team. In addition, some drivers and teams are connected to Lotus.
Lotus in Formula 1
Team Lotus (1958-1994)
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Team Lotus was a British motorsport racing team and, like Lotus Cars , part of the Lotus Group founded by Colin Chapman . Between 1958 and 1994, the team took part in almost 500 Grand Prix races for the Formula 1 World Championship and at times also in other racing series. In the 1960s and 70s, the racing team was one of the most successful teams in Formula 1 and won several drivers 'and constructors' world championships.
Team boss and founder Colin Chapman was considered a brilliant inventor and technician. He invented the monocoque body and was also the first designer to do away with the round cooling air vent on the front of the car, known from all racing cars since the 1950s, and to create a wedge-shaped body with side radiators for the Lotus 72 (first used in 1970 ). Furthermore, Chapman was a pioneer in the use of the ground effect , which first found its way into Formula 1 on the Lotus 78 in 1977 .
As the downside of his ingenuity and ingenuity, Chapman repeatedly risked the lives of his drivers by using dangerous or untested equipment in races. The British world champion Graham Hill once said: "If a bike overtakes me, I know that I'm in a lotus." Jochen Rindt put it even more drastically when he said that he "will either perish in the lotus or become world champion". Both came true in 1970.
The sudden death of Chapman in 1982 sealed the creeping decline of the traditional team, which finally had to file for bankruptcy in 1994 after years of failure. The Brazilian Ayrton Senna achieved the last Grand Prix victory for a Lotus in 1987 at the US Grand Prix in a Lotus 99T .
World champions on Lotus were Jim Clark (twice), Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti (once each).
Pacific Team Lotus (1995)
In 1995 the racing team Pacific Racing entered Formula 1 under the name Pacific Team Lotus . After Team Lotus left Formula 1, the racing team acquired the naming rights. The team remained without points in the season and did not participate in Formula 1 the following season.
Lotus Racing / Team Lotus (since 2010)
In 2010 the name Lotus returned to Formula 1 with the Malaysian racing team Lotus Racing . The team used the same color scheme as Team Lotus, but was not an official successor to Team Lotus. The new team will be operated by Malaysia F1 Team Sdn Bhd , a consortium of various Malaysian companies that also worked with the Malaysian government to set up the team. The automotive group Proton , owner of the road car division of Lotus Cars, is also a member of the consortium. Tony Fernandes became team manager .
For the Formula 1 World Championship in 2011 , the racing team acquired the naming rights to Team Lotus and renamed the team accordingly. The naming rights to Team Lotus had been acquired by David Hunt in the 1990s . As a result, Lotus Cars tried to obtain a court decision that the Malaysian racing team was not allowed to use the name. In May, the court confirmed that the team could continue to use the Team Lotus name .
Lotus Renault GP and Lotus F1 Team (since 2010)
In 2011, Lotus Cars returned to Formula 1 as the title sponsor of the Renault team. The racing team, which emerged from the previous Renault works team in 2010 , competed as the Lotus Renault GP in the 2011 season . The contract as the title sponsor was originally valid until 2017. This sponsorship contract ends in April 2012. The Lotus F1 Team then waives the payment of the agreed sponsorship money and is allowed to use the name “Lotus” up to and including the 2017 season. The team is owned by the Luxembourg investment firm Genii Capital . In the legal dispute with the Team Lotus operated by Tony Fernandes, it was decided that Lotus can continue to act as the title sponsor and use a black and gold paint job. In 2011 there was a duel between Lotus and Lotus in Formula 1. In 2012 the racing team was named Lotus F1 Team , while Fernandes' racing team had given up the name Lotus and was reported as Team Caterham.
In the Formula 1 World Championship in 2012 , Kimi Raikkonen ended the series without a win by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix . He also won the 2013 Australian Grand Prix race .
Lotus in other formula sport racing series
Lotus in the IndyCar Series
In 2010 , Lotus Cars entered the IndyCar Series for the second race as a sponsor of KV Racing Technology . Lotus sponsored the Dallara of the former Formula 1 driver Takuma Satō , which was painted in the green and yellow Lotus design. Satō fell in his debut season by some accidents and reached with a ninth place only a placement in the top ten.
In 2011 , Lotus appeared as the title sponsor of three KV Racing Technology racing cars. Satō, EJ Viso and Tony Kanaan started for KV Racing Technology - Lotus . While Satō achieved two pole positions, Kanaan was once second and twice third. In the season finale, which was canceled and not counted after a mass accident in which Dan Wheldon was killed, Kanaan was consistently in the lead. In the drivers' championship, Kanaan was the best Lotus driver in fifth. Satō was 13th, Viso 18th. The cooperation with KV Racing Technology ended at the end of the season.
From the 2012 season , Lotus joins the IndyCar Series as an engine manufacturer. The engine is being developed by Engine Developments , also known as Judd . The Dreyer & Reinbold Racing , Lotus / HVM Racing and Bryan Herta Autosport teams will be at the start with Lotus engines. In addition, MSR will use Indy Lotus engines.
Lotus in the GP2 / GP3 series
Starting with the 2011 season , Lotus Cars will support the GP2 team ART Grand Prix , which has since competed as Lotus ART in the GP2 and GP3 series . In the GP2 series, three other teams also have an indirect connection to Lotus. DAMS is sponsored by Gravity Sport Management , a subsidiary of Genii Capital, and Super Nova Racing by Proton. In addition, Tony Fernandes, team boss of the Formula 1 team Team Lotus , has his own racing team with Team AirAsia .
Lotus in Formula Renault 3.5
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In the 2010 season , Mofaz Racing competed under the name Junior Lotus Racing in Formula Renault 3.5, the main series of the World Series by Renault , as a Lotus Racing “junior team”. The team belongs to the father of Fairuz Fauzy , who was a test driver at Lotus Racing. The paintwork of the cars was based on that of the Formula 1 racing cars. Daniil Mowe , who was represented by Dean Stoneman for the last race weekend , and Nelson Panciatici started as drivers in the 2010 season . In the team ranking, the racing team came ninth. The best driver was Panciatici, who finished twelfth overall.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Malaysia will have its own team in Formula One next year (Official press release of the Malaysian Foreign Ministry)
- ↑ The new Lotus is called T128 (Motorsport-Total.com on January 31, 2011)
- ↑ a b Absurd case of Lotus: Both sides celebrate as winners (Motorsport-Total.com on May 27, 2011)
- ↑ Group Lotus to become Renault title sponsors (formula1.com on December 8, 2010)
- ↑ http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news/2012/04/Lotus_behaelt_Namen_bis_2017_12041002.html
- ↑ Renault-Shareholding: The facts on the table (Motorsport-Total.com on February 4, 2011)
- ↑ "Fix: Lotus joins KV and Sato" (Motorsport-Total.com on November 5, 2010)
- ↑ "Two cars: Lotus expands IndyCar commitment" (Motorsport-Total.com on November 5, 2010)
- ↑ "Number three: Lotus is getting involved as an engine manufacturer!" (Motorsport-Total.com on November 19, 2010)
- ↑ "Lotus engine comes from Judd" (Motorsport-Total.com on May 12, 2011)
- ↑ “Lotus announces 3 partner teams for 2012” ( Memento of the original from November 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (indycar.com on November 17, 2011)
- ↑ “Early entrant for 2012” ( memento of the original from October 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (indycar.com on October 13, 2011)
- ↑ "Curious: ART joins Lotus" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 22, 2010)
- ↑ "WSbR - season preview" (Motorsport-Total.com on February 7, 2010)
