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ART renamed Lotus GP

Jules Bianchi drove for Lotus ART in 2011 © GP2 Series

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ART - Lotus ART in 2011 - has renamed its GP2 and GP3 teams Lotus GP for the 2012 season.

The team was founded as ART in 2005 by Frederic Vasseur and Nicholas Todt, and went on to win the GP2 teams' championship in 2005 and 2006 with its Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton respectively winning the drivers' titles. Another success with Nico Hulkenberg followed in 2009, while it has also won the drivers' and teams' championships in both GP3 seasons to date.

The team went in to partnership with Group Lotus in September 2010 ahead of carrying the name in the 2011 season, and will now drop ART altogether.

"I am proud and happy to have the chance to give this new boost to the venture and to have the confidence of as prestigious an auto maker as Group Lotus, whose heritage in the sporting world is known worldwide," Vasseur said. "I am very happy about the sporting and technical prospects this partnership offers our team. It will enable both entities to capitalize on each others' expertise in order to rise to big challenges in the coming years."

The change will also see the teams switch from the green and yellow livery to take on the black and gold scheme used by the Lotus Formula One team. Director of motorsport at Group Lotus Claudio Berro says the name change is a very small part of a much larger collaboration.

"The relationship between Group Lotus and ART continues to intensify and both parties will benefit from sharing technological developments and engineering support," Berro said. "The partnership goes far beyond an agreement on the team name - this is just the tip of the iceberg. The collaboration between ART and Group Lotus is deeply rooted in the culture and daily life of both entities. For example, Lotus' road cars, like the Elise and the Evora will benefit directly from the impacts of developments made by the team on the circuit as well as in the factory. The current and future cars will benefit from developments in performance, endurance and stability at high speed and in return, the racing team can draw its inspiration from world-renowned engineering, since Lotus Engineering's engineers may be assigned to Lotus in the GP2 and GP3 Series."

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