Mike Gascoyne, the new Lotus team’s chief technical officer, has confirmed that the team are a week ahead of schedule on their build process and making excellent progress in all key areas in their efforts to be ready for the forthcoming Bahrain Grand Prix in March.
Updating us on Lotus’s progress Gascoyne said “We had been looking at firing up our engine for the first time on 12th February, but with the efforts everyone’s been putting in we have now been able to bring that forward to 5th February. This is obviously a great boost for everyone involved in the team, and shows how much hard work has already gone in since we had our entry confirmed on September 12th.
As a result of the new engine fire up date they are also able to confirm that they are on track to take part in the third official test in Jerez from the 17th February and then Barcelona from the 25th.
Gascoyne also looked ahead to the forthcoming season and announced that the development programme will see a major update at the Spanish Grand Prix in May: “We have said we are aiming to be ahead of the new teams when we all reach Bahrain, but we would also like to be pretty close to the midfield teams after the first few races of the season.
It is speculated that the update they have planned for May will see a big boost in performance which will give them a chance to start fighting with the other established teams.