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Lotus LMP2 contender for WEC (25 posts)

Topic tags: LMP2, Lotus, WEC, World Endurance Championship

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Keith Collantine said 1 year, 3 months ago:

Lotus have revealed details of their LMP2 contender for the World Endurance Championship:

Competing under the team name Lotus with a Lotus engine housed in a brand new Lola LMP2 coupe the team will contend the 2012 FIA WEC which kicks off in Sebring on March 17th. The team of Kodewa, which is running the programme, comprises of experts with a vast pedigree in not only endurance racing but also F1, DTM and lower formulas.

The car will be compliant with the latest regulations set out by the ACO/FIA and will run with a traditional Lotus black and gold livery in a very special design, more details on this and testing plans to follow in the coming weeks.

Commenting on the announcement Group Lotus Director of Motorsport Claudio Berro said: “This is a very exciting step for us, we made no secret of our intention to tackle LMP2 this year but it had to be done in the right way and we’re very happy with the set up with our partners. More than anything else, we’re looking forward to our return to Le Mans in this capacity after our success with the Evora last year. The engine development is going well but there’s a lot to do over the coming weeks to ensure that the car is prepared for the intensive testing that we must undertake to ensure we’re ready to complete.”

Further details regarding the car unveiling and driver participation will be confirmed shortly.

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Adam Milleneuve said 1 year, 3 months ago:

Looks absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

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Victor_RO said 1 year, 3 months ago:

It isn’t a Lotus engine unless it’s the V6 from the Evora GTE. If it’s a Judd V8 then they’re basically rebadging a BMW engine. And even the V6 is a rebadged Toyota engine anyway… so I call “cynical rebadge job”.

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robk23 said 1 year, 3 months ago:

I’m starting to get worried now, Lotus isn’t exactly rolling in cash right now (far from it) so adding an LMP2 programme to their current motorsport roster of F1, IndyCar, GP2, GP3 and GTs could mean one or all of those things ends badly when the money stops coming for whatever reason.

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BasCB said 1 year, 3 months ago:

Maybe in light of their current wealth Lotus got just the right guy to run their team then @robk23, Kolles really made the most out of shoestring budgets before!

I really hope it will be able to do decent running on track, if only so they can show of that car!

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GeeMac said 1 year, 3 months ago:

Ok, so Lotus think that they can handle the development of a new engine for an LMP2 car and an Indycar engine. That old phrase about running before tou can walk springs to mind.

As @Victor_RO mentions, it’ll probably be a rebadge job given the tight timeframe, but quite how they will manage to develop 2 engines for high profile catergories is beyond me given Group Lotus’s precarious financial position.

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ajokay said 1 year, 3 months ago:

It definately is a rebadge job. Aside from some of their GT stuff, everything they’re doing in motorsport at the moment is a rebadge job.

Although with all this black and gold flying around, how long will it be before the Lotus Badge ditches the green and yellow and ends up looking like this?

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PJ said 1 year, 3 months ago:

Daniel Simon’s working his way through the teams I see :).

He did the HRT livery last year, along with the vehicles on Tron Legacy (along with the Bugatti Veyron):

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Keith Collantine said 1 year, 3 months ago:

@PJTierney I knew I’d seen that name before! Thanks.

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PJ said 1 year, 3 months ago:

Found a bigger pic on Daniel’s site:

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S.J.M said 1 year, 3 months ago:

looks great but I wish they’d dispose of the black & gold now. Don’t get me wrong, i LOVE the old JPS F1 cars, but those days are gone now, use something else.

Regardless of my ill-feelings towards Dany Bahar and his lot, I still love lotus cars, and wish them the best of luck.

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PJ said 1 year, 3 months ago:

I think it fits Lotus more now than Green/Yellow.

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TheWittyWeasel said 1 year, 3 months ago:

I have to ask: where is Dany Bahar/Group Lotus getting the money for this, Formula 1 and IndyCar from?

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deanmachine said 1 year, 3 months ago:

Well didn’t Lotus get a large grant from the British Government to develop their manufacturing facilities? Not saying this money is going direct into their motorsport divisions from the government grant, but them not having to invest their own money in their manufacturing it could go into promoting the company?

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Prisoner Monkeys said 1 year, 3 months ago:

“Never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”. First, pictures of the Lotus-backed Indycars testing at Sebring surfaced. Now they’ve released and artist’s rendering of their LMP-2 car.

Surely they would have been better off waiting until February 5th when the E20 is launched? Then they could have their Formula 1, GP2, GP3, Indycar, Le Mans and GT cars. And possibly the Exige R-GT that they are said to be preparing for the WRC. Having all six (or seven) cars in the one place would be too good an opportunity to miss – unless you’re Lotus.

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