By RSL Staff –
June 26, 2012Posted in: Featured, IRC, News
The Lotus Exige R-GT made its debut as a course car at the weekend’s Geko Ypres rally in West Flanders, among the most beautiful rally venues in the world.
Portuguese driver Bernardo Sousa, who is set to race the Lotus Exige R-GT in anger later this year, drove the official car ahead of its first race in the FIA European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
As part of the continuous development programme of the Exige R-GT, Ypres offered the Lotus International Team the opportunity of track time and also gave the rally world a chance to have a close look at Lotus’s exciting GT class challenger with the team of Sousa and Corrado Mancini on board. Rival drivers and fans alike were clamouring to get up close to the Exige all weekend.
The team took advantage of the 18 special stages of the rally to test different set-ups, engine modes and electronics solutions. There were no major technical problems, only some small teething issues regarded as normal in the development of the car that has covered only 1,000 km of testing to date. The only issues were an alternator failure and a faulty brake connection.
“The car continues its phase of growth and evolution,” explained Bernardo Sousa. “Here in Ypres progress has been steady and significant. The great potential of the Exige R-GT is emerging day after day. In this phase the team and I are trying to achieve the highest reliability and are only relatively interested in the stage times, even if I must say that the car is proving to be faster every day. I am very satisfied with both the car and the level of professionalism that the Lotus International Team is showing every day.”
The next event for the team is this weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where Lotus is the featured marque, followed by two separate private test sessions to be held by July 15th.
Related posts:
- The Lotus Exige R-GT at the Geko Ypres Rally
- Sousa thinks new Lotus Exige R-GT rally car has great potential
- Lotus Racing set for tarmac and grassroots
- The Return of Lotus to Rally
- Martin Semerad Lotus factory pilot
- Lotus Racing set for tarmac and grassroots
- Lotus set for European championship bid
- Test Pieter Tsjoen – Alister Fisher Geko Ypres Rally
- Test Geko Ypres Rally Juho Haninnen / Andreas Mikkelsen
- IRC Geko Ypres Rally day two review: Hanninen sets new benchmark
The new logo of CROATIA RALLY 2013 has been approved; the tenth round of the 2013 European Rally Championship will take place from September 26th to 28th in Croatia with its headquarter based in Poreč, one of the most beautiful place on the Adriatic coast….
Qatar M-Sport’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini continued their dominant campaign in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) last weekend as they piloted their Ford Fiesta RRC to a convincing victory at the 2013 Jordan Rally. Nestled in the confines of the region’s…
Jon Armstrong became the first finalist selected for the brand new BRC LIVE Media Trophy in association with Prodrive on the Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally, the opening round of the 2013 British Rally Championship. The 18 year old Fiesta R2 driver from Northern Ireland,…
Donegal driver Donagh Kelly secured his third Carryduff Forklift MSA N.I. Rally Championship victory on Saturday when he claimed victory at Magherafelt and District Motor Club’s Tour of the Sperrins Rally! Navigated by Kevin Flanagan, Kelly powered his Airtricity backed Subaru Impreza World Rally Car…
Seven flame-spitting Ford Fiesta ST Global Rallycross Cars will go for gold in Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium next Sunday (19 May) as the fast-growing phenomenon that is X Games rallycross roars into life in Europe for the first time. Ford is the sole automotive sponsor of…
Hayden Paddon is gunning for a rally-winning performance at this weekend’s FIA International Rally of Whangarei, having made further pace-improving developments to the Stadium Cars Evo9 rally car. Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, from Geraldine and Blenheim respectively, head to Whangarei leading the driver and…
Coverage from the opening round of the 2013 MSA British Rally Championship, the Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally, will air on Sky Sports 3 & 3HD on Monday 13th May at 6.30pm. The one hour programme will once again be produced by the vastly experienced Greenlight…
Draperstown driver Camillus Bradley heads the entry for this Saturday’s Tour of the Sperrins Rally, round four of the Carryduff Forklift MSA Northern Ireland Stage Rally Championship. Navigated by Charlie Beattie, the Mark 2 Escort crew head a horsepower packed field of almost 100 crews…
European based Aussie rally driver Molly Taylor will make a surprise appearance at the Scouts Rally SA from 24-26 May for the Ford Innate Motorsport Team. Fresh from competing in the Rally Acores, a round of the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) and ready to…
Hayden Paddon, New Zealand’s top rally driver, heads back to Europe in July having confirmed his entry in two FIA World Rally Championship events. Paddon and Blenheim-based co-driver John Kennard will compete in Neste Oil Rally Finland and ADAC Rallye Deutschland, both in August, using…
Russ Thompson and Andy Murphy opened their 2013 NGK Spark Plugs BRC Challenge campaign in fine style today (Saturday May 4th) by winning the Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Challenge and taking home a maximum 30 point haul on a sunny but breezy spring afternoon in…
Subaru Rally Team USA driver David Higgins took a big step toward achieving a third straight Rally America Championship by winning the Oregon Trail Rally this weekend. With the win, Higgins can likely now claim the Oregon Trail Rally as his event, having won the…
Qatar M-Sport’s Evgeny Novikov narrowly missed out on a podium at Rally Argentina today. In a day-long battle, the Russian emerged in fourth place overall – his best result from the event and equalling a season-best finish in this year’s FIA World Rally Championship. Embarking…
M-Sport supported driver Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari dominated the WRC 2 category at Rally Argentina this weekend. Piloting their Seashore Qatar Rally Team Ford Fiesta RRC, the Qatari and co-driver Killian Duffy were in a class of their own – taking victory by an impressive 13 minutes….
‘Hello everyone, Tomo here again for the last time from Rally Argentina. ‘Day Two started well with some great splits compared to Martin Prokop and local star Gabriel Pozzo. Michał started at a strong pace and had an advantage of nearly 24 seconds over both…
Jukka Korhonen and Marko Salminen finished the final stage of the Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally 42.5 seconds clear of the chasing pack, making the 29 year old the first Finn to win a round of the MSA British Rally Championship since Jari-Matti Latvala ten…
Czech car manufacturer Skoda has joined forces with Indian tyre firm MRF to enter a two-car team on six rounds of the 2013 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. Indian driver Gaurav Gill, who very nearly won the championship last year for MRF, will drive one…
NGK Spark Plugs, title sponsor of the BRC Challenge and partner to the MSA British Rally Championship has added its support for the marshals on each event this season. Marshal goodie bags are provided to the many volunteers that give up their valuable time in…
Qatar M-Sport will be looking to translate their pace into a strong result next week as the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) ventures to the fifth round of the season at the Philips Rally Argentina. Leading the team’s voyage to South America, youngsters Mads Østberg,…
Peugeot Sport has pulled no punches in its bid to provide Sébastien Loeb with a singularly awesome machine for the 2013 Pike Peak Hill Climb (June 30). The 208 T16 Pikes Peak in which the driver who has dominated world class rallying for the past…
