Blancpain Enduro Series - Race Monza 17Th April 2011

CAR Lotus EVORA GT4

Conditions Dry

Air Tem 21.1c

Track Temp 31.2c

Track Length 5739m

1st out Edo Piscopo

2nd out Leo Mansell

3rd out Greg Mansell

Race Time 3.0.07.744

Best Lap 2.00.093 (lap 6)

Laps completed 84

Lotus Sport Italia finished 1st in class and 19th overall at the first round of the Blancpain Endurance Series, in Monza. The second Evora GT4 entered as Lotus Driving Academy took second place and finished 20th overall, despite experiencing 3 punctures during the race. The race was an eventful one for the No 70 Lotus Sport Italia entry, with the car swapping positions with GT4 Nissan throughout the race. During Greg Mansell's stint the cars changed places 4 times in one lap and made contact in the Parabolica, which ultimately retired the Nissan and damaged the Evora. Nonetheless despite damage which affected the cars handling Greg was able to bring the car home in 1st after a stunning opening stint by GT4 debutant Edo Piscopo. This was followed by a very solid second sting by Leo Mansell on deteriorating tyres.

The Lotus Driving Academy GT4 result was made all the more impressive as the Driver line-up was made of gentlemen drivers, Stefan Landmann (AUT), Csaba Walter (HUN) and Florian Aichinger (AUT).

Leo Mansell comments: We had a great battle all race with the Nissan which only came to an end during Greg stint. The car has been great all weekend although I did struggle with my tyres throughout the race. Lotus did an amazing job; the car is great and was very reliable. I am very happy for the Team and delighted to have been on the podium twice with the EVORA following the Dubai 24 hours in January.

Greg Mansell comments: It was a really good race and I had a real battle with the Nissan, swapping places 4 times with them in one lap alone. Anyway the car and the Team worked tremendously well all weekend and I could not have hoped for a better start to this Championship.

Edo Piscopo comments: I am so happy for Lotus and the whole team; this is a fantastic result for us in what is a great Championship. I had a great battle with the Nissan. I did struggle with the tyres for the first 5 laps but we had a great set-up and I was eventually able to pull away. I am so happy for Lotus and the entire team the Evora GT4 is a fantastic race car and I am looking forward to racing it all season.

Walter Lechner comments – LDA Evora GT4

We are so happy with our car which we only received two weeks ago but which ran problem free all weekend. We ran with 3 gentlemen drivers with no experience of Monza – so everyone did a good job, with no mistakes. We did experience tyre problems in the race which actually resulted in 3 tyre failures. Anyway I am happy with the Team work and we will build on the result.