-

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Lotus Announces Partnerships

UPDATE 5:59pm: Bryan Herta Autosport has become the 3rd team in nine hours to confirm their partnership with Lotus Group in 2012.

“Obviously, this is an incredibly exciting step for us,” said BHA owner, Bryan Herta. “Our goal all along has been to build our foundation to eventually compete as a full-time entrant in the series. To partner with Lotus, which has such a rich history and tradition in racing including at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is just tremendous. All of us are looking forward to working closely with Lotus to support their efforts.” 

BHA is expected to field at least one car with the possibility of additional entries next season.

------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE 1:50pm: Dreyer and Reinbold Racing has announced that they have entered into an agreement to become the Lotus factory team, making DRR responsible for a significant amount of on-track testing, off-track research and development activities.

"To enter into a partnership with Lotus as a factory partner team is a huge step for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing," said DRR co-owner, Dennis Reinbold. "In working closely with the team at Lotus over the past few months, we have had unique access and awareness of their strong commitment to the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500. Many of our collective efforts are already underway and we could not be more enthusiastic about this off-season's testing and development program."

Dreyer and Reinbold -- which hopes to field two cars full-time with an additional entry at Indianapolis -- will be re-branded with an updated logo and other changes.

---------------------------------------------------------------

HVM Racing and Lotus formally announced today their partnership for 2012.

"Despite the choices, once it was apparent that Lotus would produce an engine, it was a clear decision for us to run with them," said HVM owner, Keith Wiggins. "I have great respect, confidence and enthusiasm in the product they will produce. I have good historical knowledge of the companies involved and their abilities. Being the first team to commit reflects this and being an integral part of the Lotus development process is important to the re-establishment of HVM as a leading team, this time in the IZOD IndyCar Series."


With a returning Simona De Silvestro, HVM became the first team to align with Lotus, but more teams are expected to jump on board possibly as soon as today.

"We are delighted to be partnering with such a well-established and ambitious team as HVM," said Group Lotus Director of Motorsports Operations, Miodrag Kotur. "We're pleased that HVM has shown such faith in Lotus at the start of a new chapter of our commitment to the IZOD IndyCar Series. We have been working tirelessly on our engine program since we announced our intention to produce a new engine in line with the new rules and direction of the Series. We believe that our efforts will pay dividends as the numbers that are coming from our dyno testing are extremely encouraging. We have also managed to produce a very light power-plant, in the true spirit of Lotus. However, we are keen to test the package on-track and look forward to our first test in early January, slightly later than originally planned but designed to give us more time to fine-tune our package before taking to the track."


HVM joins nine other teams in announcing an engine partner for next season including Chip Ganassi Racing, A.J. Foyt Racing, Sam Schmidt Motorsports, Rahal Letterman Lanigan (Honda), KV-Racing Technology, Team Penske, Andretti Autosport, and Panther Racing (Chevy).

0 comments:

Post a Comment