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Tun Dr. Mahathir Officially Opens Lotus Racing Factory

Tun Dr. Mahathir, ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia, today conducted the official opening of the Lotus Racing factory in Hingham, Norfolk

Tun Dr. Mahathir Officially Opens Lotus Racing FactoryMalaysia’s longest serving Prime Minister, and one of Asia’s most influential political figures, was joined by Lotus Racing Team Principal Tony Fernandes, Deputy Team Principals Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin and Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne for the official ceremony to declare the factory open.

During his tour Tun Dr. Mahathir was given a detailed explanation of the different aspects of a modern Formula One team factory. He was then seated in the Lotus Cosworth T127 Chassis 02 while the engine was fired up, giving the team’s esteemed guest a very rare insight into the conditions the team’s drivers, Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy, Italy’s Jarno Trulli and Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen work in at races and tests.

Tun Dr. Mahathir created the vision for the establishment and growth of motorsport in Malaysia, and therefore the birth of the Lotus Racing team. This visionary spirit was the driving force for the establishment of the Malaysian Grand Prix, held at the world-renowned Sepang International Circuit which was also created and built under his Premiership.






Tony Fernandes and fellow Lotus Racing shareholders Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin were honoured that Tun Dr. Mahathir oversaw such an important milestone in the team’s development, saying “It is very exciting for us and the team that Tun Dr. Mahathir has been able to come to Norfolk to officially open our factory. He is the Father of motor racing in Malaysia, the visionary behind the birth of the Sepang International Circuit and the Malaysian Grand Prix and has given us all the inspiration to reach for the skies and achieve our dreams – as such it is a tremendous honour for us to welcome him here and we are extremely proud he has opened our factory today. ”

Lotus Racing completed its first official test last week in Jerez and now moves to Barcelona for the final official test before the season kicks off in earnest in Bahrain from March 12th – 14th.

We are lacking downforce, admits Kovalainen

Heikki Kovalainen has admitted that Lotus' first Formula 1 car in sixteen years carries a fundamental downforce problem, as he completed his Jerez test slowest on the timesheets and 3.2 seconds down on leader Mark Webber's Red Bull on Friday.

As the famous Lotus name returns to the sport with the 1Malaysia team behind it, Kovalainen drove the car for the first time on Thursday after test driver Fairuz Fauzy began the team's programme on Thursday. With Jarno Trulli set to take over for tomorrow, Kovalainen understands the key problems.

"I think the main issue is the downforce," the former Renault and McLaren driver explained to reporters. "We have not been able to develop the aero package as we should have; we had five months to build the car and everything's been a bit conservative. Before they started to design the car, they had no information about the engine, so cooling and everything is quite conservative.

"For sure, we can improve - just by looking at the car I could probably improve a few things; I'm sure we will be able to do this but it'll just take a little time." With the team's Norfolk-based crew being able to collect more information before the season starts, in Barcelona next week, Heikki knows that time will be the best healer.

"Once everybody in the UK - the design and manufacturing teams - begin working, we'll be able to make big improvements," continued Kovalainen, who crashed at Jerez on Thursday.

"I think it's quite clear that we're lacking downforce compared to the quickest cars. It's not surprising, we expected it - but just looking at the numbers we knew where we were going to be."

Trulli makes Lotus debut as team end test on positive note

KUALA LUMPUR: Italian Jarno Trulli finally took to the tracks as Lotus Racing Team ended their four-day test on a positive note at the Jerez circuit in Spain on Saturday.

Trulli, making his Lotus debut, started off at 9am – aiming to complete 140 laps.

The Italian finally pitted at around 4.40pm – completing 141 laps – much to the satisfaction of his team.

McLaren’s Jenson Button leapt to the top of the timesheets as this week’s test drew to a close.

Button lapped the Spanish circuit in 1:18.871 to finish over two-tenths of a second ahead of Robert Kubica in the Renault.

The British world champion spent the day evaluating set-ups and assessing tyre durability in the MP4-25, and covered 108 laps while Poland’s Kubica completed 117 laps, as he carried out long runs in his R30.

For Lotus, the target had been to get as much mileage on the car as possible. Trulli’s best lap time was 1:23.470.

Trulli said it was a good day all round and that the car felt good, with no immediate problems.

“It was a very positive day. I’m really happy about my first day testing with Lotus Racing and I was very lucky to have everything right on the car,” he said.

“With no major issues, we were able to put a lot of mileage on the car and get a lot of information out of it.

“I had the chance to start developing a real feel for the car and it’s good to be here.”

Lotus Racing chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne summed up the final day in Jerez, and the total four days in Spain, as an excellent outing.

“An excellent day today (Saturday), concentrating on reliability and race pace. The 141 laps from Jarno is a great effort when you consider it’s his first day driving this year,” he said.

“It was also a great effort from the team who worked all night to get the car prepared. Overall, it’s been a very encouraging four days.

“The main aim of the test was reliability and over the last two days of dry running, we have found some directions in set-up that will enable us to concentrate on the pace of the car in Barcelona.”

The teams will move their testing to Barcelona this weekend as they get ready for the opening race in Bahrain on March 14.

Apart from Lotus, the other new teams this year are Virgin, Campos and US F1.

While Virgin and Lotus have been among the slowest this week, they are confident about their progress while Campos and US F1 have yet to test or complete their line-ups.

Campos restructured their ownership and recruited the experienced Colin Kolles as team principal on Friday but US F1’s chances of making Bahrain look remote amid media reports they have asked to miss the first four races of the season.

Serbian team Stefan GP say they are ready to step in despite not having a 2010 entry.

Lotus Racing in confident mood

LOTUS Racing completed their four-day official test at the Jerez Circuit in Spain on Saturday still rooted to the bottom of the time sheets but were brimming with confidence over the reliability of the Lotus T127 Cosworth.

Italy's Jarno Trulli completed 141 trouble-free laps on the circuit on his first day on board the new car.

It was also a day when reigning world champion Jenson Button brought his first run with new team McLaren to the top, posting the fastest time of one minute 18.871 seconds.

Renault too seemed to have got their act together after a lacklustre season last year, with Poland's Robert Kubica taking the R30 to second spot with a time of 1:19.114s.

After adjusting quickly to his new office, Trulli set to work and by the time he had completed his targeted number of laps he described the day as positive.

"I'm really happy about my first day testing with Lotus Racing and I was very lucky to have everything right on the car today (Saturday) with no major issues," said Trulli.

"We were able to put a lot of mileage on the car and get a lot of information out of it.

I had the chance to start developing a real feel for the car and it's good to be here."

Lotus Racing chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne summed up the final day in Jerez, and the total four days in Spain with notes that the targeted reliability had been achieved.

"An excellent day today, concentrating on reliability and race pace," said Gascoyne.

"141 laps from Jarno is a great effort when you consider it's his first day driving this year and also a great effort from the team who worked all night to get the car prepared.

"Overall it's been a very encouraging four days.

The main aim of the test was reliability and over the last two days of dry running we have found some directions in set up that will enable us to concentrate on the pace of the car in Barcelona."

The pre-season tests now move to the Catalunya Circuit in Barcelona from Wednesday to Saturday.

Saturday's times: 1 Jenson Button (Bri) McLaren 1:18.871s (108 laps), 2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:19.114s (117) , 3 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1:19.188s (117), 4 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:19.650s (80), 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:20.061s (130), 6 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:20.436s (137), 7 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso 1:21.053s (139), 8 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull Racing 1:21.194s (87), 9 Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Williams 1:21.919s (137), 10 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 1:22.433s (27), 11 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus 1:23.470s (141).

Fairuz Fauzy qualified for Superlicense!

Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. Its the most expensive and technical of them all. Only few are lucky enough to race in Formula 1 and most of the time these drivers are the crème de la crème, although some circumstances have proved us otherwise.

2010 Formula One Testing Jerez, Spain.Now what is Formula 1 without a strict license requirement that is the ‘king’ of motor racing licenses? The answer is: Superlicense.

Anyone who wishes to race in Formula 1 needs a Superlicense from the FIA. To qualify for the license one needs a ‘decorated’ experience in motor sport. On top of that one has to cover 300 kilometers with a current Formula 1 car. Following yesterday’s official test session in Jerez, Fairuz Fauzy has qualified for a Superlicense as he clocked in about 334 kilometers.

This means that if Kovalainen or Trulli is unable to race anytime during the season, Fauzy can step in. The test session in Jerez continues later today with Heikki Kovalainen behind the wheel of the Lotus Cosworth T127. Force India’s Paul di Resta also qualified for the license as well.

Power steering problems at Lotus

Lotus enjoyed a reasonable start to its new Formula 1 adventure on Wednesday when joining ten other teams at Jerez for the start of a four-day test. The Norfolk-based squad completed over 300 kilometres with res driver Fairuz Fauzy, which sees the Malaysian gain an FIA Superlicence despite suffering from power steering woes.

According to Lotus' Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne, the lack of power steering was due to supplier issues but should be solved by Thursday, for when regular race driver Heikki Kovalainen is behind the wheel.

"It's been an excellent day for the whole team," Gascoyne said. "With the car we had no major reliability issues - a few niggles with overheating, which were quickly solved, and then the car ran pretty faultlessly.

"The power steering issue will be fixed for tomorrow, so all in all a very successful first day and a busy evening ahead, preparing the car for tomorrow."