- Lotus launch
Lotus launches E20 via YouTube
Lotus has launched its 2012 car, the E20, by releasing a video via YouTube and its website.
The new car is the team's first to run under the new Lotus chassis name after it switched from Renault over the winter. The E20 carries the hopes of returning 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen as well as Romain Grosjean and is named after the team's factory in Enstone, which this year is producing its 20th car.
While the design looks to be conventional, team boss Eric Boullier dropped hints the car featured subtle innovations. "It's true that the team's reputation is good in terms of innovation and we brought through the last years some nice ones, and let's say some more delicate ones, but definitely we have some this year."
He said the priority was to restore a winning feeling back to a team which under the Renault and Benetton brands enjoyed several titles, the most recent being in 2006. "My biggest hope is obviously to bring this positivity back again and to make sure this team is again at the front of the grid and for many years and a long time."
When asked about his hoped for 2012, team owner Gerard Lopez said: "I think the hopes are to be able to get one season together in a way that we were already expecting last year. That is to have a strong car, strong drivers - one of which is an ex-world champion - and then to bring the car up to the front of the pack - probably trying to aim for fourth is a reasonable goal for this season."
The car will hit the track for the first time on Tuesday when the first pre-season test of the year gets underway at Jerez . Raikkonen is set to drive the car for the first half of the four-day test before handing it over to Grosjean.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
