Renault becomes Lotus Renault GP
The Renault team has joined hands with Group Lotus to come out together for the 2011 season as Lotus Renault GP. The respective teams have come to an agreement according to which the teams name will be changed and the deal will
continue until 2017.
Gerard Lopez, the Chairman of the Renault team was delighted with the deal which has taken place between the Lotus group and the Renault team. He added that it would be the beginning of a new era of partnership between the two
groups. He also paid a tribute to the hard work of the team in attracting the sponsors and bringing in new investments for the team for a bright future.
The French car giant, Renault had sold its remaining shares to Genii Capital. This sale ensured that Group Lotus will be the co-owners of the team. The Renault name will continue to be used as the engines will be provided by Renault.
For 2011, the team will be running in its iconic black and golden livery which was last used in the 1980’s.
The CEO of Group Lotus, Dany Bahar rates Formula One as the best platform to communicate the brands in motor sports. According to Dany, F1 is the pinnacle of motor sports and the Lotus team is back to make its mark in the sport
once again. He is very excited about the future of the team and says that the team has very good prospects of showing good results in the sport. He said that the aim of the team is to be amongst the front-runners in the future and win races.
Apart from the Lotus Renault GP, team Lotus will also be a part of the next season, which has already been added to the Formula One entry list for the 2011 season. The team was using the Cosworth engines in the 2010 season but
there will be a change in that. From 2011, Lotus will be using the Renault engines as under the terms of agreement.
Lotus had run the 2010 season with drivers, Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli. The season ended with the team was unable to score points in any of the races it took part in. This was expected though, as the team was making a comeback
after a long time. Their first priority was to win the battle against all the other new teams which were participating in the sport. This battle behind the field was easily won by Lotus and they will now look to perform better in the future with an aim to
compete in the mid-field with all the other cars.
The Renault team on the other hand did exceptionally well with the resource they had. The team scored 163 points and ended up fifth in the season which was well clear of the sixth placed William team. Robert Kubica was the main
performer for the team securing 136 off the total points won at the end of the season. He ended up in the eighth spot ahead of Michael Schumacher.
With the new teams looking to improve, it will be a good battle in the mid-field in the coming season and the spectators can expect some thrilling races ahead.
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