Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane praises E20 – Formula 1 news
Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane said that the E20’s reliability has allowed the team to work harder on its performance during the pre-season testing at Jerez.
The first pre-season test saw Lotus enjoy an impressive run on all three days of the testing. Both Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean drover well and impressed everyone with the good pace of the car. Lotus with the help of both its drivers were able to set
two best time set laps during the test.
Kimi Raikkonen set the best lap time first and the only other driver to break his lap time was his teammate Grosjean. McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was clearly impressed and also publicly praised the car and said that they look to be in a strong position
ahead of the 2012 season.
Major teams expected to do really well on the first pre-season test were all facing difficulties with their new challengers. Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren all have one way or another said that their car needs quite a bit of tweaking and changes before then
can be ready for the season.
Permane also admitted that the team covered 404 laps spanning the four days allowed during the first test and the team was able to work on the performance.
“Our main focus for this week has been orientated around accumulating mileage and testing reliability,” Permane said. “The E20 has proved to be reliable, meaning we've been able to include some performance work too.”
“Our general programme has been to conduct performance work in the morning, when the track is a little cooler and there's less wind. In the afternoons, when the temperatures and winds are higher, we have conducted longer runs with heavier fuel loads,” he
said.
Still Permane said that it was not all perfect, there were some radiator leaks in the car during the testing, but the team was able to quickly identify the cause and fix it.
The second test will begin on February 21, 2012 at Barcelona, where teams will be looking to show off their pace. Lotus will definitely be starting the test ahead of rest in terms of readiness as no other team looked as complete as Lotus did during the first
pre-season test.
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