Lotus Racing has announced its motor sport plans for 2012 covering rallying, European GT racing and karting.
The black and gold Lotus colour scheme will take to rally stages from April. Lotus International Rally team's Exige R-GT is entered in the FIA European Rally Championship. Bernardo Sousa is in line to compete in the Rally 1000 Miglia in Brescia on 19-21 April.
Final testing and homologation of the Exige will be completed soon. Ten cars will be built with seven cars going to the official team.
Lotus' GT racing activities are centred on the European Le Mans Series. The Black and Gold Evora GTEs will compete in the GTE Pro class. Factory driver Johnny Mowlem will be joined by two more drivers to be announced shortly.
The team is run by GT race driver Gianni Giudici as Lotus Giudici Racing. The first three events will take place in France, Belgium and the UK.
A route into motor sport is provided by the Lotus Racing Karts team, supporting the 2012 CIK-FIA Under-18 Karting World Championship. Registration is open to drivers aged 15 to 18 with a deadline of 30th March. There are 102 places available on a first come, first served basis.
The championship kicks off on 8th July in Braga, Portugal. With free allocation of tyres and engines to all participants the aim is to limit the costs of taking part. The top three drivers will win a fully-sponsored Formula Monza test with the Lotus Formula Juniors team, a go in the F1-inspired Lotus Type 125 customer car, a two-day test with the Lotus Racing Karts team and a tour of the Group Lotus factory.
John Lambert - 5 Mar 2012