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Lotus in the Peak |
| 27th - 29th June 2025 |
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Lotus Lmp2 In Fia World Endurance Championship And The 24 Hours Of Le
Mark H posted a news article in Lotus LMP2
Lotus will race with two cars in the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship, which includes the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. The FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest have announced the competitors for the FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans at today’s press conference in Paris. Lotus got two entries for the FIA WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans to run with the new Lotus T128 in LMP2 class. In its inaugural season in 2012, the FIA WEC has gained a lot of attention all over the world. The 2013 calendar comprises eight races on four continents on legendary circuits like Fuji, Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps. But the sports cars will also run on new tracks like the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Without a doubt, the ultimate highlight for all drivers and teams will be the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Only 55 cars are allowed to take part in the legendary endurance classic at the Sarthe and every single grid spot is highly coveted. As a consequence, Lotus is very happy that the ACO complied with the team’s desire to participate with two Lotus T128. It was also announced today that Briton James Rossiter and Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi will stay with the team and drive alongside American Kevin Weeda. The crew already impressed with good results in the previous season and with the Pole Position in class at the 6 Hours of Shanghai. German Thomas Holzer will lead the lineup of the sister car. -
Lotus-Rebellion finished fourth overall at Le Mans and were the only team to break Audi’s domination. The #12 car was also the first-placed petrol-engined machine. Both cars entered reached the finish line, and took first and third place in the LMP1 Privateer FIA WEC category. The team has extended its lead in the LMP1 Privateer championship. The #12 Toyota-powered Lotus-Rebellion driven by Nick Heidfeld, Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost and #13 sister car driven by Andrea Belicchi, Harold Primat and Jeroen Bleekemolen were never out the top 8 (including the six Audi and Toyota factory cars) during the first four hours of the race. With mechanical and traffic issues for the factory cars, the two black and gold livered prototypes were strongly positioned in the top six from the sixth hour. After the early retirement of both factory Toyota Hybrids, Lotus-Rebellion was the only team to break the Audi stranglehold with car #12 running fourth from the seventh hour. The night proved trouble-free, and #12 broke through the dawn still in fourth and resisting pressure from the #3 Audi R18 Ultra. The sister Rebellion was starting to have clutch issues and, with just five hours to go, was pushed into the pits for 37 minutes while the crew took apart the rear of the car and gearbox to replace the clutch. The car emerged P11 overall. The final two hours were intense for the Swiss team. The #13 car pushed its way up to the Privateer Trophy podium. Meanwhile, Audi were hunting down a perfect top four lock-out at the front, and the Lotus-Rebellion was in the way. Neel Jani responded by setting lap times even quicker than qualifying, and then handed over to local favourite Nicolas Prost who took the chequered flag, maintaining the team’s hard-fought fourth-place. Bart Hayden, team manager: “To secure fourth place overall at the Le Mans 24 Hours among Audi factory cars is just reward for the immense effort, contribution, dedication and determination of each and every member of our team. I am deeply proud of what we have achieved as a team. As announced before the season our aim was to repeat our 2011 result at Le Mans and win the FIA WEC Trophy for best Privateer. We are now in a good position to secure both of them after this Le Mans result.”