Jules will start 11^th while Esteban will start from the 16^th place after having problem with his gear box during the qualifying session.

Qualifying on the 4th line after long being a contender for the pole position, Jules moved climbed to the 3rd step of the podium after the first race. On Sunday, the French driver was on track for a repeat performance when Romain Grosjean sent him spinning at the beginning of the second lap. After this collision in which he was the innocent victim, Jules moved back up from second-to-last place to 7th and secured 5th place in the overall classification with 6 points, 7 points off race leaders Romain Grosjean and Sam Bird.

Esteban Gutierrez has had a rough start in the series. The Mexican driver qualified in 24th position and was eliminated in the very first few meters of the first race in a general pileup. The next day, for the first time all weekend, he was able to demonstrate the extent of his talent, moving up to finish in 11th.

Jules Bianchi:

“Overall, it was a positive weekend. Performance was there from the free sessions and in qualifying we had the potential to secure the pole position. But as always happens in GP2, the weekend goes very quickly and the slightest hitch costs you dearly! The three neutralizations hurt us bad, but 4th place on the starting grid was not a catastrophe. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of time behind Clos, as well as after my pit stop where I found myself caught in traffic. Despite it all, I moved up from 6th place to 3rd, and this first podium of the season is very encouraging. I think that in the second race we could have done better if Romain Grosjean had not bumped me when I had overtaken him. What’s done is done, and I am focusing on the Barcelona races, where I hope to get the results that Lotus ART deserves.”

Esteban Gutierrez:

“The weekend was tough at the start with changing conditions and an accident in the first lap of my very first race in the GP2 Main Series when I got hit by behind. But in the end it was much better and we left Istanbul on a high note. We fought back and gained 14 positions, our strategy was smart and it paid. It was an important step forward at the end of a difficult weekend and it leaves me much more confident.”

Frederic Vasseur:

“The overall result is not a reflection of our performance level. Jules missed the pole position by a hair, and starting on the dirty side of the track didn’t help him any. We decided to change all four tyres in the pit stop, but the time spent in the pits was penalizing because he had to re-enter the track in the middle of a pack of cars that had already changed their tyres. It’s a lesson for the upcoming races but I'm convinced it was the right choice. Esteban had some bad luck in qualifying and in the first race, but he was very competitive in the second leg, and I am sure that he will be able to make good use of his GP3 Series title to continue making progress and be a points contender in the upcoming races.”

Meanwhile teammate Esteban Gutierrez drove a strong race to finih 10th from 24th on the grid.

Lotus ART clinched its first podium of the GP2 Season, courtesy of Jules Bianchi. The french driver started 3rd and fought al race long to finish on the 3rd step of the podium.

His teammate, Esteban Gutierrez, has been less lucky as his race ended in turn 1.

Race 2 will take place tomorrow morning.

Lotus ART had mixed feelings during the qualifying session of the Istanbul meeing : Jules Bianchi ended 4th after fighting a long time for the top spot while teammate Esteban Gutierrez finished the session 24th.

The race will take place tomorrow aftenoon and will probably be full of action for both Lotus ART drivers.

Lotus ART has ended 2 days of testing on the Barcelona track today. The team focused on setting up the GP2 at best in order to extract the maximum of the new Pirelli tires. Jules Bianchi and Esteban Gutierrez finish the tests full of confidence ahead of the start of the season in Istanbul on May 6^th.

Lotus ART is back from Silverstone with the job done. The team has spent two interesting days preparing the GP2 Series that will start in May in Istanbul. A lot of important datas has been gathered, it will help the team to optimize setups of both Dallara cars of Jules and Esteban. Next tests will take place in Barcelona on April 19th and 20th.

Jules' title hopes disappeared when the frenchman was hit by Fauzy. The young Lotus ART finishes second of the Championship.

Esteban Gutierrez drove a brilliant race from 12th on the grid to finish 4th.

Lotus ART clinched a new podium in Imola today, courtesy of Jules Bianchi who finished 3rd after a difficult start caused by a slow Sam Bird in front of him.

Esteban Gutierrez ended 12th which is not representative of his race pace.

With a perfect start to the GP2 Asia series, Lotus ART's Jules Bianchi won race one at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit.

After qualifying in second place the 21 year old Frenchman put in a stunning performance during the 36 lap race to come in first ahead of Lotus Renault GP reserve driver Romain Grosjean (DAMS).

Unfortunately Bianchi's luck ran out in race two, where GP2 rules dictate that the top eight from race one start in reverse order, despite finishing in fourth place, just narrowly missing his second podium in two days, he dropped to eighth place after being identified as one of three men that the stewards adjudged to have "not respected yellow flags". Lotus ART's second driver, Esteban Gutierrez, came 22nd in the first race and 12th in the second event.

For more information on Lotus ART visit: www.art-grandprix.com. For full race results and further details on GP2 race events, please go to www.gp2series.com.

Jules Bianchi finished 8th in the second race of the meeting after being penalised. Meanwhile, teammate Esteban Gutierrez came back home 14th.

Jules Bianchi won the first race of the 2011 GP2 Asia Series. His teammate has been unlucky and had to retire.

Results to follow.

Jules Bianchi ended second while rookie teammate Esteban Gutierrez clinched the 9th position for his first qualifying session in GP2.

Very early in the morning session Lotus ART's Esteban Gutierrez set the pace in a 1:36.684 ahead of Carlin's Max Chilton, but his laptime was soon bettered by the GP3 Series reigning Champion's teammate Jules Bianchi who clocked in a laptime of 1:36.300. As the clock ticked down, Bianchi went quicker, so much as to become the only man to go under the 1m36s barrier, eight hundredths of a second ahead of Davide Valsecchi at Team AirAsia while Sam Bird and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top four.

The afternoon session was a bit slower as teams mainly focused again on completing race simulations. Racing Engineering's Dani Clos rapidly took control of the timesheet in a 1:36,619, with Johnny Cecotto at Super Nova in two. With drivers upping their total of numbers of laps, the order remained unchanged for the first two hours, and the session was briefly red flagged twice. Entering into the final hour, Team AirAsia's Luiz Razia edged Clos off the top. The Brazilian's teammate Davide Valsecchi soon after moved up to P2 before snatching the top spot from Razia in a 1:36.211, and going even quicker the following lap with a 1:36.159. Marcus Ericsson moved up to P3 before another red flag occurred. A final interruption happened with 10 minutes left into the session when Valsecchi and Romain Grosjean collided. At the re-start, iSport's Sam Bird slipped into P3 in the dying minutes of the day. Esteban Gutierrez ended 5^th.

The fourth season of the GP2 Asia Series will open this Thursday in Abu Dhabi.

The Lotus ART GP2 team is pleased to announce that they have signed a deal with Jules Bianchi for the upcoming 2011 championship season...

This will be his fourth season with the French based squad after contesting two years in the F3 Euro Series followed by his debut season in the 2010 GP2 championship. In 2010 he finished up as best rookie of the year as well as third overall with four podiums, three pole positions and one fastest lap.

The young Frenchman, who is a part of the Ferrari Young driver Programme, has already shown great promise and his participation in the 2011 season will see the Lotus ART GP2 team go head to head with the top teams yet again. Once again they are hoping to build on a fruitful first season together to aim for similar achievements as the one Jules and Lotus ART secured in the last few years.

Jules Bianchi:

"My first year in the most competitive championship besides F1 with the closest car there is to an F1 contender, allowed me to learn a great deal on a sporting, technical and personal level. I am proud Lotus ART put their confidence in me for another year because I know with them I have the best environment to reap what we have sown over the last few years and have the opportunity to fight for the title. Added to that, thanks to the Ferrari Driver Academy, compared to a year ago, I feel deeply changed. It was an important experience, which made me grow a lot and made me get to know the company and the people who work on this project, skilled professionals with great humanity. Through various stages we have practiced a major physical and mental training, but mostly I had a chance to hone driving techniques and it is in this sense that I feel that I have been a great help. I'm sure it will help me for my 2011 Challenge."

Frédéric Vasseur:

"Despite a broken vertebrae that could have had serious consequences both on a sporting and psychological level, Jules finished his first season in the GP2 Series brilliantly with the status of best rookie of the year. This remarkable achievement is even stronger thanks to his capability of chasing pole positions. He secured three times as many poles than any other rival in 2010. Lotus ART knows Jules well both as a driver and a person and has total confidence in him. We hope the combination of his qualities and the hard work of the team and its partners will give us all the leverage we need to aim for top places."