Copy and paste post about the Lotus LMP program in WEC. Now why you ask? It has links to Caterham and specifically Colin Kolles... Who I have a feeling is trying to get away from some people.
Last year Kodewa ran under the Lotus name the T128 LMP2 car or at least until Le Mans when both cars had parts seized and impounded by french courts, following a reported lawsuit by co-builders ADESS. They did run last minute after a settlement but it wouldn't have helped. They stated ambitions to run an LMP1-L this year, which they indeed have debuted at Texas. Now hang with me from here.
(Lotus T128 in 2013)
The car debuted under the Lotus T129 banner, a direct reference obviously to T128, at COTA. But after COTA had a total name change, now being called the CLM P1/01. The CLM appeared on the car when it hit the track, with Lotus banners disappearing. Now I normally do not trust motorsport.com as a source, but having checked up a few facts here in this article, I give this.
http://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/colin-kolles-saga-the-mysterious-lmp1-car/
(Lotus T129 launched at the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours, note the Lotus badging on the front and Romanian flag indicating involvement from Kodewa)
Colin Kolles also over summer came into possession of the Caterham F1 team following Tony Fernandes giving in and selling the team over summer. Now some french media reportedly believe that the CLM stands for Caterham Le Mans, which whilst hopeful, is an interesting spin. In between the LMP1 cars debut and name change from the T129 to the CLM P1/01 (the gap between COTA and Fuji WEC events), Colin Kolles' Caterham F1 HQ were raided by Bailiffs. This comes after as this article states
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/future-of-caterham-f1-in-doubt-after-bailiffs-move-in/ that Colin Kolles supposedly set up a "Caterham CF1 Grand Prix Limited" in the weeks upcoming. Also Kolles was not originally involved in the T128 back in 2013, but he came on with the ADESS / Kodewa project after learning of it, whilst they were not really Lotus, they had just a lease to use the naming rights!
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/cars/lotus-t128/
(Lotus under CLM banner at WEC COTA / Fuji - note Lotus logos removed and replaced with CLM banners, and no Romanian flag on the car)
So is the name change perhaps Kolles trying to move away from ADESS / Kodewa (who let us not forget made legal challenges at LM 2013 against him)? Perhaps so, as the Lotus CLM now has absolutely no Lotus branding on the car itself now as I can see. Considering that ADESS / Kodewa had a 2 year deal for 2013/14 with the Lotus name, and the T128 is technically there design (and indeed rumoured to still potentially race under the Praga/Kodewa banner sometime soon), then Kolles has had to rebrand the car?
And to add a final layer of mystery: Racecar Engineering found at Fuji that despite denials from inside the Lotus LMP1 team... the car is indeed a modified LMP2 T128 (
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/blogs/gravel-trap-post-race-tech-fuji-wec/). Why would you cover that up? Perhaps you don't want people to find out what you have been using on track....