Lotus F1 Racing One Week Ahead Of Schedule

LOTUS F1 RACING ONE WEEK AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

Mike Gascoyne, Lotus F1 Racing Chief Technical Officer, has confirmed this week that the team is a week ahead of schedule on its build process and making excellent progress in all key areas in its efforts to be ready for the forthcoming Bahrain Grand Prix in March.

Asked for an update, Mike said "We had been looking at firing up our engine for the first time on 12^th February, but with the efforts everyone's been putting in we have now been able to bring that forward to 5^th 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 12^th.

"With the engine fire up date now in the diary, we are also in a position to confirm that we will be on track for the first time at the third official test at Jerez from 17^th February, and then at Barcelona from 25^th February. We are also aiming to run chassis two for the last two days of that Barcelona test."

Mike 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. The update we have planned for Spain will see a boost in performance when we reach Barcelona which will give us the chance to start fighting with the slowest of the established teams which, given progress so far, has to be the next goal for us."