Lotus and Cosworth have entered into a new
technical and commercial partnership with
established IndyCar competitors KV Racing
Technology to run in the 2010 IndyCar Series.
The Lotus-Cosworth IndyCar will use the classic
Racing Green and Yellow livery used on Lotus
Racing cars in the 1950s and 1960s and this new
livery will debut at the first USA round of the
IndyCar Series.
Driving the Lotus-Cosworth IndyCar will be the
former F1 driver Takuma Sato.
Lotus competed for a number of years in the
IndyCar Series in the 1960s, winning the
Indianapolis 500 race outright in 1965 with the
pioneering Lotus Type 38, driven by Jim Clark,
and narrowly missing victory to come second in
1963.
Dany Bahar, CEO of Group Lotus plc said, “Racing
has always defined Lotus and on many occasions
in motorsports history Lotus’ numerous
innovations have re-defined racing. It’s only
fitting that as the Lotus Racing name re-enters
Formula 1, we will also race and innovate again
in IndyCar. The Lotus name will, once again
compete in the top two open-wheel racing series
for the passion and enthusiasm of car fans
around the globe.”
Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser, owners of KV
Racing Technology said, “We are delighted to be
part of Lotus and Cosworth’s return to the
IndyCar Series, and with Takuma at the wheel of
the classic racing green and yellow Lotus
Cosworth race car, we expect to be formidable
competitors this year.”
Takuma Sato said, “This is fantastic news for
everyone. It is exiting for me to be a Lotus
driver and I’m really looking forward to great
success with this new project.”
The return to the IndyCar Series follows on from
the recent announcement by Lotus and Cosworth
are to become closely associated through a
strategic partnership looking at the opportunity
to develop high performance engines for Lotus
cars.
The 2010 IndyCar Series starts with the Sao
Paolo Indy 300, Brazil on the 14th of March
2010.
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