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Lotus in the Peak |
28th - 30th June 2024 |
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Showing results for tags 'Bernardo Sousa'.
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Lotus’s groundbreaking Exige R-GT, the first car in this category of tarmac-racing rally sports cars to be homologated by the FIA, made its competition debut at the weekend in Madiera, Portugal, with works driver and local hero Bernardo Sousa at the wheel The priority was on reliability over performance, but unfortunately despite showing a lot of promise in the opening special space, the car was not able to complete the rally due to an electronics issue. In the first special stage the car ran well and lapped seventh overall, but in the second special stage their emerged a problem with the internal electronics connection which affected all the systems and its laptime, finishing tenth. In the third and final stage an electronics glitch caused the gearbox to fail, the wheels to lock, and Sousa and co-driver Corrado Mancini to career into the wall at slow speed. The Lotus International Team is focused on resolving this electronics issue, and Bernardo’s next date with the car will be an extensive four-day test in Italy at the end of the month to validate all systems. Bernardo Sousa: “I’m disappointed because I really wanted to finish the rally, but we can take heart that the potential is clearly there. We crashed out due to a failure, which is frustrating, but not uncommon when you debut an all-new car. On Special Stage 3, when I braked the gearbox wouldn’t downshift, the wheels locked, and we didn’t make it through the corner. We crashed at about 40km/h. The first stage was promising, though, particularly as there were lots of chicanes and we don’t have power steering. I know that on proper stages we can be a lot faster. I’m very confident this car can compete at a high level. Despite the electronics glitches, the parts are high quality and we will fix this one problem.” Claudio Berro, director of Lotus Racing: “A memorable week for Lotus Racing, with success in the single-seater categories and our debut in the European Rally Championship. We hoped the Exige R-GT would complete the course in Madeira, but it was the car’s first taste of competition and these things rarely go smoothly. The pace is there, we just have to make the car 100 percent reliable, so we’re looking forward to a big test at the end of August.”
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- EUROPEAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
- Exige R-GT
- (and 3 more)
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Exige R-GT to debut at the 2012 Rali Vinho da Madeira this weekend. The long awaited Lotus Exige R-GT has received its starters orders from the FIA and makes its competition debut this weekend at Round 7 of the European Rally Championship in Madeira, Portugal. The FIA has homologated the car ready for competition and it is the first car to pass the FIA R-GT regulations. The car will be raced by the works Lotus International Rally Team crew of Bernardo Sousa and co-driver Corrado Mancini. The team tested this all new category car for the last five months and recorded vital miles as the course car during last month’s Geko Ypres Rally in Belgium. Sousa, being Portuguese, is racing the Exige in anger for the first time on home turf. The 25-year-old is one of the most promising young rally drivers. The priorities in Madeira will be reliability and further fine-tuning of the car during the punishing schedule of a rally weekend. For Lotus, it’s a historic return to a sport in which the marque has appeared in the past with great success. Lotus won the World Rally Championship with the Lotus Talbot Sunbeam back in 1981. Claudio Berro, Director of Lotus Racing: “This is a very exciting week for us. It’s been a long time coming because the R-GT category is new, and it’s taken time for the rules to be written and, in turn, the car to comply with the regulations. Nonetheless, the process on our side has been smooth and the development of the car is really promising. We go to Portugal with realistic aims, primarily to work on reliability and performance, but it’s going to be great to experience competition. This is the first car to be homologated by the FIA for R-GT. The R-GT class will make rallying more appealing and thrilling than ever, and the acclaimed Exige will earn a huge following I’m sure.”
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- Exige R-GT
- Rali Vinho da Madeira
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The Lotus Exige R-GT made its debut as a course car at the weekend’s Geko Ypres rally in West Flanders. Portuguese driver Bernado Sousa, who is set to race the Lotus Exige R-GT in anger later this year, drove the official car ahead of its entry in the FIA European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. As part of the continuous development programme of the Exige R-GT, Ypres offered the Lotus International Team the opportunity of track time and also gave the rally world a chance to have a close look at Lotus’s exciting GT class challenger with the team of Sousa and Corrado Mancini on board. The team took advantage of the 18 special stages of the rally to test different set-ups, engine modes and electronics solutions. There were no major technical problems, only some small teething issues regarded as normal in the development of the car that has covered only 1,000 km of testing to date. The only issues were an alternator failure and a faulty brake connection. Bernardo Sousa: “The car continues its phase of growth and evolution. Here in Ypres progress has been steady and significant. The great potential of the Exige R-GT is emerging day after day. In this phase the team and I are trying to achieve the highest reliability and are only relatively interested in the stage times, even if I must say that the car is proving to be faster every day. I am very satisfied with both the car and the level of professionalism that Lotus International team is showing every day.”
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- Lotus Exige R-GT
- Geko Ypres rally
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(and 2 more)
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