Silverstone, UK 9th July 2010

Lotus Racing's Silverstone Friday Practice debut was a day of mixed fortunes, with Heikki Kovalainen completing 41 laps and finishing under a second behind Alguersuari's Toro Rosso, but Fairuz Fauzy and Jarno Trulli both suffering technical issues that curtailed their running.

Heikki Kovalainen (Chassis T127-01) FP1: 16 laps, best time 1.36.747, 19th / FP2: 25 laps, 1.35.465, 19th "It felt fine out there today. I had just one problem at the end with the power steering, but that was the only issue with my car. I'm not sure this circuit suits our car as well as it does with some of the top cars, but compared to the other new teams I think we're in good shape.

"The new layout is nothing like the old circuit – now it feels like it's pretty straightforward. It's quite bumpy, and the corners are pretty simple, not like the old circuit where you got on the throttle and could find a really good line through the corners. I have no problem with the circuit, I just preferred the old one."

Details of what exactly the "New Era" for Lotus will entail are starting to appear with reports that the carmaker will show four new concept cars at the Paris Auto Show this September. According to some reports the vehicles will include a successor to the Esprit, two new front-engined GT cars and a new roadster model.

It is not clear if one of these new models will be the Exige, but Lotus is expected to announce the release of a V6 powered Exige soon. Several spy shots of the car have been taken and considering recent emissions regulations put an end to the 1.8-litre engine (in all its forms) for the European market, Lotus is left only with an underpowered 1.6-litre.

The announcement will come as part of a larger restructuring at Lotus has also announced that it is cutting free its entire European dealer network as it plans to move forward as a serious competitor to Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin.

Group Lotus today confirms the forthcoming departure of Chief Operating Officer Frank Tuch (43).

Tuch leaves Lotus at the end of July to join the Volkswagen Group. Commenting on his departure, Group Lotus Chief Executive Officer, Dany Bahar said: "Frank was approached by the Volkswagen Group shortly after agreeing to join Lotus and it was not a consideration for us to stand in his way in pursuing this one-off opportunity. We were able to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with VW which still allows Lotus to continue to benefit from Frank's considerable experience before his departure. Frank will also continue to work for Lotus as an adviser and we wish him the very best of luck in his new endeavour."

On a positive note, Lotus is pleased to confirm the appointment of Wolf Zimmermann (49) from Mercedes-AMG. Zimmermann, the former Managing Director Engineering & Production and Chief Engineer Technical Strategy at Mercedes-AMG GmbH. He will join the Lotus management team as Chief Technical Officer on 1 September complementing Lotus' impressive line-up of industry leading experts.

Silverstone, UK 9th July 2010

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