31/1/11,
Team Lotus have unveiled their 2011 challenger online ahead of its track debut later this week. The UK-based team hope the T128 will make them midfield contenders and bring them their first world championship points.
After contesting their 2010 debut season with the deliberately conservative, Cosworth-powered T127, Lotus have taken a more aggressive approach with the new car, which uses Renault power and Red Bull transmission systems.
“This year’s car is a much more contemporary design,” said chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne. “The car really will be a midfield runner. It’s a modern F1 car. I’m very confident it is a big step up and it’s the start of a process that takes Team Lotus back to the front of the grid.”
"T128 takes Team Lotus in exactly the right direction,” added team CEO Riad Asmat. “We have said since day one of the Team Lotus dream that the plan for our second year was to take the fight to the midfield, and with this car we are all confident that is what we will be able to do."Team principal Tony Fernandes commented: "There has been so much focus off-track it's a thrill to be able to get back to talking about racing. The launch of the T128 is a big step forward for Team Lotus and I want to thank the whole team for the amount of hard work that has already gone into the car, and I want to thank Renault and Red Bull Technology for their tremendous support in helping us make this step forward and for being such great team partners."
The T128 is expected to make its track debut on Wednesday, in the second day of this week’s official F1 test session at Valencia in Spain. The team's driver line-up remains unchanged for 2011, with Finland's Heikki Kovalainen and Italy's Jarno Trulli at the wheel.
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