The Lotus F1 team has revealed that it will name its 2012 car as the E20 to celebrate the 20th F1 chassis to be designed at its Enstone base.
The team, previously known as Benetton and Renault, moved to Enstone back in 1992 and has taken F1 world titles with both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.
The E20, which will be driven by
Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, will be launched on the Lotus F1 team website on 5 February before hitting the track in the first pre-season test at
Jerez two days later.
“Our naming of the chassis to recognise Enstone's importance to the team's evolution highlights our recognition of the contribution of the facility and the personnel who work tirelessly every year to produce the very best car possible,” team principal Eric Boullier said. “We certainly hope that this is the case with the E20 and we are looking forward to revealing the car to the world and seeing it out on track for the first time.
“There are a number of technical changes from last year and we have an exciting new driver line-up to extract the maximum from the E20 through the twenty Grands Prix of the 2012 season, including the 500th race for this team through its different incarnations. We hope that the E20 proves to be a performing Enstone design.”
