Report: Lotus F1 no longer sponsored by Group Lotus, team to keep name

Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Racing

Group Lotus will no longer sponsor Lotus F1, according to Autosport.com. The manufacturer pulled its endorsement shortly after parent company Proton announced the sale of Group Lotus to DRB-Hicom. Additionally, Proton won't purchase 50 percent of the race team as previously agreed.

The good news, however, is that Lotus F1 will continue to compete. Team owner Genii Captial has said it believes in the name, and that while it would prefer to not have to fund the team completely by itself, it is prepared to do so. The team has already signed Unilever and Microsoft as sponsors, though there's still room for a title sponsor to step through the door.

If that happens, Lotus F1 will have more cash flow than the team has ever had in the past.

As Autosport.com points out, Gerard Lopez, Genii Capital owner, had previously expressed interest in owning Lotus. Now that the company has a new owner, that seems to be more feasible. Even so, Lopez says he's not certain what the new owners intend to do with the brand.

Lotus F1 no longer sponsored by Group Lotus, team to keep name originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/09/lotus-f1-no-longer-sponsored-by-group-lotus-team-to-keep-name/

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