Lotus makes rallying return

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nitrorocks

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Lotus continues their hard charge back into motorsport as the car manufacturer is set to return to their rallying roots. Lotus plans to enter the ‘Exige R-GT’ into the tarmac surface rounds of the FIA European Rally Championship. The Exige R-GT will be the first GT car to be homologated by the FIA under the newly created Rally GT category.

Claudio Berro, Director of Motorsport for Group Lotus, explained the rally comeback decision made by Lotus. “In my mind rally is probably the ultimate motorsport, it combines the excitement of track racing with the specialist skills needed for road racing – we really believe it’s one of the best and most straight forward ways to demonstrate the capabilities of our products…Our new rally car, the Exige R-GT is a dream come true for those who are passionate about GT racing – this will be their car.”



The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus enjoyed championship success in the 1981 World Rally Championship

Lotus is widely known for their championships in Formula One as well as their success in sports cars. However, there are many racing fans out there that are unaware of the Hethel-based sports car maker’s 1981 World Rally Championship winning campaign. 31 years later, Lotus hopes to emulate the achievements of the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus with the Exige R-GT. In order to do this, Lotus have secured a partnership with the United Business Rally Team. The Italian based team is no stranger to success as they recently took championship glory in the 2011 FIA European Rally Championship.

Claudio Berro commented that this partnership makes “perfect sense because they, like us , know how to win. I think this is going to be a very strong collaboration. The championship largely takes place on tarmac, which suits us too. It’s so exciting to go rallying with this new project. It’s another big challenge for Lotus.”

Pending a successful homologation process by the FIA, the Lotus Exige R-GT will debut in April at the Rally 1000 Miglia in Brescia, Italy. Current Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC) driver Bernardo Sousa will be behind the wheel of an Exige R-GT featuring the iconic gold and black Lotus racing color scheme. United Business owner Pier Liberali holds high hopes for this event and commented that “This partnership agreement with Lotus Racing fills me with pride. Lotus is one of the most famous manufacturers worldwide in the motorsports field. It is an honour for us to be able to work with them, and we will do our utmost to exceed their expectations.”





 
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It's beautiful...
 
Can't wait to see that on the dirt! It'll look pretty funny next to all those hatchbacks. :)

Cowboys965
Too bad there's no WRC on TV in America.
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They have it on Velocity, previously known as HD Theater. It's labeled as "Auto Racing".
 
I want one of those Talbots, Tiovonen's my favorite racer so it's cool seeing him still looked on. I wish they raced more rally over here to see cars like that. I bet it'll look great sliding around in the dirt. Can't wait to hear it and see it in action.
 
I thought something like that would happen. :banghead:

I'd really like to see it go around Monte-Carlo. That would be interesting.
 
EliteDreamer
I thought something like that would happen. :banghead:

I'd really like to see it go around Monte-Carlo. That would be interesting.
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Yeah, Monte Carlo would be perfect
 
Endless-Wilso
Ive heard the name but not to familiar with them and i know from F1
Renault has some rights to the name
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No, Renault backed out of Formula 1 at the end of 2009, retaining a 25% stake in the team. The remaining 75% was purchased by Genii Capital, who ran the team as Renault for the next two years. In 2011, the team acquired Lotus Cars as a title sponsor; Lotus then acquired a stake in the team when Renault sold the last of it off, and the team was totally renamed as Lotus. Renault the car manufacturer has never owned any part of Lotus Cars, and the cross-over was simply because of the names of the owner and the sponsor.
 
In Spain the Exige (not in this GT-R version) has been used in rallying.

One of many videos:

[YOUTUBEHD]3DeZ6xs8Yxc[/YOUTUBEHD]

There's something nice on seeing a beautiful car doing rallying. Reminds us times of old.
 
prisonermonkeys
No, Renault backed out of Formula 1 at the end of 2009, retaining a 25% stake in the team. The remaining 75% was purchased by Genii Capital, who ran the team as Renault for the next two years. In 2011, the team acquired Lotus Cars as a title sponsor; Lotus then acquired a stake in the team when Renault sold the last of it off, and the team was totally renamed as Lotus. Renault the car manufacturer has never owned any part of Lotus Cars, and the cross-over was simply because of the names of the owner and the sponsor.
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But then itis still a Renault engine in the Lotus right ?
 
Yes, it is still a Renault engine. Renault is an engine supplier to several teams, but they own no stake in any of them.
 

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