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Lotus set to supply IndyCar engines

Lotus has sponsored Takuma Sato's No.5 car this year © Getty Images

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Group Lotus will join Honda and Chevrolet as an engine supplier in the IndyCar series in 2012, as the company looks to expand its motorsport ambitions.

Group Lotus is also set to supply aerodynamic bodywork to the KV Racing Technology team when the standard Dallara chassis are introduced in 2012. The engine and bodywork deals are just one facet of a plan that will see the company up its involvement throughout the world of motorsport over the coming years.

"We take racing seriously and we don't just want to put a sticker on a car that we didn't have the influence to help build," Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar said. "We want to compete with the big guys."

Group Lotus only just made the cut-off to sign up to the new engine regulations for 2012, which will see six cylinder, ethanol-fueled engines replace the current V8s. Bahar admitted it had been a close call.

"We never felt it was going to be an engine up until a couple weeks ago," he said. "They didn't feel they were going to be able to get it."

Bahar said the decision "fits perfectly our activities and strategy" and that it is entering IndyCar to take on the establishment. "We're going to be the underdog, we're going to fight Chevy and Honda," he added.

Group Lotus is still in court with current F1 team Lotus Racing over the use of the Lotus name in F1. It is also rumoured to be in talks with the Renault F1 team about sponsoring the outfit in 2011.

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