Takuma Sato will drive a Lotus-branded IndyCar in certain rounds of this year’s IndyCar championship.
The car will be run by KV Racing and is set for its first outing at St Petersburg in Florida in two weeks’ time. The series holds its first round at a new street circuit in Sao Paolo tomorrow.
According to Lotus the car will be entered as a “Lotus-Cosworth”. At present Honda are the exclusive supplier of engines to the IndyCar championship. Every one of Sato’s 90 starts came at the wheel of a Honda-powered car.
Sato was in the running for an F1 return with Lotus this year but the seats went to Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen instead. Sato said:
This is fantastic news for everyone. It is exiting for me to be a Lotus driver and I’m really looking forward to great success with this new project.
Takuma Sato
Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar said:
Racing has always defined Lotus and on many occasions in motorsports history Lotus’ numerous innovations have re-defined racing. It’s only fitting that as the Lotus Racing name re-enters Formula 1, we will also race and innovate again in IndyCar. The Lotus name will, once again compete in the top two open-wheel racing series for the passion and enthusiasm of car fans around the globe.
Jim Clark won the Indianapolis 500 for Lotus in 1965.
Klon
13th March 2010, 14:37
Hmmmm … Jarno and Heikki, I’d push a bit harder now, you’ve got sharp competition on your back!
Eric
17th March 2010, 12:11
Yes Jarno and Heikki..I’d be REAL worried up until Sato gets to the FIRST corner!!!
UneedAFinn2Win
13th March 2010, 14:42
Cool, apparently they’ve also had talks with Mario Andretti to step into some role with the Lotus brand.
They sure are firing on all fronts in openwheels.
SeminoleAJ
13th March 2010, 15:41
That’s a mistake for Lotus. IndyCar is a dying series that’s only kept afloat by the Indianapolis 500. Speaking of which, anyone else think it’s fishy that they have the season opener in Sao Paulo at a location other than Interlagos?
Kapow32
13th March 2010, 15:47
what do you mean by fishy? there’s no way ecclestone would allow indy at interlagos, he’d pull the grand prix and build a tilke track in rio if he had to
rosberg is sitting pretty.
13th March 2010, 16:55
what do you think it will be better, to take the lotus name to nascar. I don’t think the indy car series is dying, they are just suffering because of a war. there is room in the us for both, but nascar it’s doing things the right way, and that’s key.
i hope they copy here in f1. Racing made for men, by men.
Robert McKay
13th March 2010, 15:53
So someone in America saw a BMW Sauber Ferrari and thought we “want a piece of that”, so came up with the Lotus-Cosworth Honda. Excellent.
Ned Flanders
13th March 2010, 16:04
Haha yeah, I didn’t think you could get a stupider name than BMW Sauber Ferrari but kudos to Lotus Cosworth Honda, they’ve managed it. Not only are they named after a brand that doesn’t produce the cars but they also have a brand that doesn’t produce the engine. Madness!
Salty
13th March 2010, 16:13
We’ve also got a Renault Lada in F1. Look forward to the Skoda Tata Oldsmobile making an appearance next year.
Dr. Gonzo
13th March 2010, 16:30
At least Oldsmobile has won a WDC and WCC! :-)
Dr. Gonzo
13th March 2010, 16:24
It’s even worse than that because it’s the Lotus-Cosworth Dallara/Honda. Dallara made the Hispania car!
Robert McKay
13th March 2010, 16:51
Excellent point :-D
Breaking new grounds with their StupidName Technology (TM).
Mike
14th March 2010, 5:29
Hahaha, nicely done Mckay
BasCB
13th March 2010, 19:55
Good for Takuma, at least he gets some running in a Lotus!
Interesting to see this racing push by Lotus / Proton. Or maybe trying to get more people in the US to be their fans?
marc menzies
14th March 2010, 9:41
how well do you think lotus will run this season i think it will take a seoson or two to get them back same with shumi what do you think
marc menzies
14th March 2010, 9:48
did sato race last year!!!!!!!
BasCB
14th March 2010, 20:23
Sato is up to his reputation (accident prone) in IndyCars today. His race ended after the first corner!
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82155
J.Danzig
17th March 2010, 3:06
Yeah Sato didnt get of 2 v best start in IndyCar but he’ll get on top of things soon.Congrats Aussie Will Power. Great race allround.
Dr. Gonzo
17th March 2010, 15:13
“but he’ll get on top of things soon”
He will, just like Mario Moraes!! :-D
Chaz
22nd March 2010, 16:50
I’ve been wondering what happened to Sato. Now I know…