Tony Fernandes reveals next Lotus car as ‘T128’
Tony Fernandes’ Team Lotus has announced to call its 2011 car ‘T128’. The team declared earlier this month that the new car will be called ‘TL11’ but at its launching ceremony, Monday morning, the car’s name was changed.
While addressing the fans of the team, Fernandes wrote on his twitter page, "Why the change of name? Because we are continuing with history. We are a new dynasty but tradition continues".
The team’s last car was called T127 while the team was named as ‘Lotus Racing’ last year, however, this year the team has switched its name to the legendary ‘Team Lotus’. It was understood by the team’s fans that the next car must be called T128 but a little time back the team announced to name it ‘TL11’, in order to avoid any kind of further issues.
Lotus Racing made its debut last season, as it got the official license from the Proton-owned Malaysian car company Group Lotus, to use the name. The idea of bringing the legendary brand back on the track was appreciated by everyone immensely.
However, as Fernandes announced to continue with the same name for the 2011 season as well, Group Lotus objected. It revealed its intention to enter the sport and claimed to own all the rights of the brand name.
Moreover, at the beginning of December last year, a deal got settled between Group Lotus and RenaultF1 team, making the former the official sponsor of the team. This means Renault will now be seen as ‘Lotus Renault GP’, bringing two teams on this year’s grid with the same name.
The dispute for the name has already been taken to the court and the first hearing has already taken place earlier this week. The next hearing of the case is scheduled to take place in the middle of March, which means both the teams will be seen at the first race, the Bahrain GP with the same name.
However, it is expected that one of the teams will need to change its name by the middle of the season, after the court gives its verdict.
To further prove itself the true heir of the legendary brand, Lotus has taken the decision of naming its car as ‘T127’. This is the continuation of the former Lotus team's cars’ series. Although, Fernandes decided to avoid another clash with Group Lotus, however, as the car launched this morning he decided to stick to the on-going series of the Lotus cars.
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