Lotus' Plans Coming Together

After a long period of silence out of the Lotus camp, plans for the British automaker are finally out in the public eye. Earlier this month, they announced the addition of Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, HVM Racing, and Bryan Herta Autosport to the Lotus family, joining Michael Shank's MSR Indy operation. This marks the first major update from the Lotus camp in several months, after a worrisome period when many thought they may not answer the bell.

"Exactly 12 months on, we are here with an all new Lotus engine and three teams, ready to go," Group Lotus Director of Motorsports Operations Miodrag Kotur said. "The numbers that the engine is already achieving in our dyno testing are extremely encouraging, so our hard work is well and truly paying off.

He continued, "These partnerships with Bryan Herta Autosport, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and HVM Racing mean a great deal to Lotus Motorsport and mark the start of a new chapter for Lotus in the IZOD IndyCar Series. We're thrilled that these already successful and illustrious teams have chosen Lotus, as we believe that our capabilities as a partner will pay dividends for them in the future."

"These three teams have immediately become part of the Lotus legend and have joined us in our journey as one of the most innovative and successful sports and racing car brands in the world."

An intriguing aspect about Lotus' plans involved the size of its engine, which is reportedly 40 pounds underweight. Though they will need to add ballast to meet the minimum weight, it could prove a structural advantage over the likes of Honda and Chevrolet, which could be especially valuable given the powerhouse teams already under the Honda and Chevrolet umbrella.

Robbie Buhl, co-owner of Dreyer and Reinbold, is confident that Lotus' engineering expertise will be a vital asset going forward. They are an engineering company," said Buhl. "And to tap into the resources of what they already have in place and kind of on the payroll there, we are hoping that that really provides us some additional engineering support as we continue, as Dennis said, as we kind of are rebranding ourselves Team Lotus, DRR and really kind of going under a different initiative here of really strengthening our engineering department and kind of building out from the technical and engineering side of our company, and then complementing it with just a good operations department and commercial department."

Further announcements regarding testing dates and additional teams will be forthcoming.