Team
Lotus has confirmed that it has agreed a settlement with Proton and
Group Lotus, which involves the group regaining the sole rights to the
use of the Team Lotus name in Formula One.
Tony
Fernandes had purchased the rights from previous holder David Hunt and
earlier this year won the right to continuing using the name in Formula
One, while the Group Lotus-sponsored Renault team could only run the
Lotus name alone. Fernandes has since purchased Caterham cars, and last
week an F1 Commission meeting approved a chassis name change from Team
Lotus to Caterham for 2012, while Renault will switch to Lotus.
It
has now been confirmed that Group Lotus has acquired the rights to the
Team Lotus name from Fernandes' 1Malaysia Racing Team, which will run
under the name of Caterham F1 Team next season. Group CEO Riad Asmat
said that the team would now be able to create its own history.
"We
are proud of what we have achieved by bringing the Team Lotus name back
to Formula One when many tried and although we are sad to say goodbye
to Team Lotus we are excited about owning our own future and being in
control of our own destiny. Now we have no one to be compared to. We
make our own history and we will remain green and yellow.
"Now
we look forward to an exciting future racing under our new team name of
Caterham F1 Team. Please continue to support our very special spirit of
never say die and support us on the track as we move up the field and
demonstrate that the good do win."
Group
Lotus CEO Dany Bahar also said that he was pleased that a settlement
had been reached and that only one team would bear the Lotus name in
2012.
"On
behalf of Group Lotus and Proton I would like to express how pleased we
are that this matter is finally closed and we can now focus on looking
forward to the future. We understand that this has been a very difficult
and confusing time for the fans of the sport and the Lotus brand so we
are glad to have reached a clear resolution on this important matter - I
would like to take this opportunity to thank our fans for their
continued support, it means everything to us."
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