LPL Motorsports and Tyler McQuarrie rejoin World Challenge in Mosport

On the heels of their first appearance – and first win – at the World Challenge Long Beach Grand Prix, Tyler McQuarrie will return to the seat of the No.19 LPL / Lotus Exige S at the Grand Prix of Mosport to contest rounds four and five of the 2010 World Challenge season.

McQuarrie had a sensational debut for himself, as well as the LPL Motorsports team and the Lotus Exige S with a dominating performance at last month’s Long Beach Grand Prix. McQuarrie, who is best known as a star in the Formula Drift Pro Championship where he drives a V8 powered Nissan 350z for the Falken Tire team, is excited to have another go in World Challenge.

“Long Beach was really a dream weekend,” said McQuarrie, a Pleasant Hill, Calif. resident. “We definitely had some challenges that we had to overcome, but the race was phenomenal and all credit should go to the LPL / DRS crew that didn’t sleep for weeks before the event to get the car ready.”

With the win, McQuarrie and the team got a big trophy, a reduction in boost, and weight added to their Lotus Exige S. In between his Formula Drift schedule, McQuarrie has been at the track with the LPL Motorsports team, getting the No. 19 Lotus Exige S dialed in to its new configuration. After a few days spent at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, McQuarrie is confident that the car and team are ready for the challenges of Mosport – a track that he is learning thanks to a computer simulator.

“The track seems like it will suit the Lotus very well, although we may have a disadvantage on the Andretti straightaway due to the changes to the car after Long Beach,” said McQuarrie. “We also know that we are racing against guys who have lots of data, lots of laps, and have won at Mosport. We are just going to give it the same effort that we did in Long Beach, and rely on the great handling of the Lotus Exige S to get us another win.”

The weekend kicks off with practice, qualifying, and round four on Saturday, with another qualifying session and round five on Sunday. Fans will be able to keep up with the McQuarrie and the LPL Motorsports team by following McQuarrie on Twitter, at twitter.com/tylermcquarrie (@tylermcquarrie).

LPL Motorsports is currently planning to continue with the World Challenge season and welcomes inquiries from drivers interested in partnering McQuarrie in a second Exige S.

[press release from LPL Motorsports]

Another Step Forward for Lotus Racing

Lotus Racing T127 Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying rain 2010

Saturday’s qualifying session saw Lotus Racing’s sunny faces beaming through the rain as another important milestone was achieved, with Heikki Kovalainen going into his first Q2 with the team and finishing 15th (1.52.270) after a clever strategy took advantage of the heavy rain that started falling just before the session began. Jarno Trulli (18th, 1.52.884) narrowly missed out on Q2 but was satisfied he did all he could in tricky conditions.

Heikki Kovalainen Tony Fernandez Lotus Racing Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying

Heikki Kovalainen (T127-01): “I’m so pleased! I really like these conditions – it’s very hard to judge your speed and you really have to take some risks, and all the time you’re feeling like you might lose the car, but that’s the challenge and I love it! On some parts of the track it was very wet and raining hard, and on others it wasn’t so much. Getting to Q2 really exceeds expectations for me and the whole team – yes of course we’ve been a little bit lucky today for sure, but it means we beat the other new teams, again! Although we were lucky, we played our strategy just right -if you look at the McLarens and Ferraris they didn’t think it was going to rain that much and look what happened. They missed their window at the beginning of the session and we took full advantage of it. Now I can’t wait to race tomorrow!”

Jarno Trulli: “It was disappointing because I was doing very well. Unfortunately on my quickest lap a car spun in front of me, which impeded me through the second and third sector so I couldn’t close my fast lap; and then the rain was getting worse, so there was no chance to improve on lap time. Still – we’ll do our best tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.”

Mike Gascoyne Lotus Racing Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying

Mike Gascoyne: “Obviously we’re all very very pleased to get a car into Q2 and Heikki did a tremendous job to get us there! I’m disappointed for Jarno as he got traffic on the lap that would have got him in. I think we got all the calls on the tyres right on the pit wall and in Q2 we ran the whole session on intermediates, which was clearly the thing to do. We made a change five minutes before the end, and Heikki got in a good clear lap to get P15. Well done to the whole team, and especially to Tony, for such success at one of our two home races – I know he’s very very proud.”

Tony Fernandez Lotus Racing Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying

Team Principal Tony Fernandes was almost lost for words: “I’m speechless! What a day! To get 15th place in our home country, in front of our home crowd is amazing. I’m over the moon and just so excited. We gave the Toro Rossos a run for their money today and Jarno was just unfortunate to get blocked, otherwise he’d have been in Q2 as well. Tomorrow’s another day, and we’ll see what happens, but it’s a good step forward. Today we’ll enjoy it, and we’ll live for the day, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

[press release from Lotus Racing]

Lotus Racing Australian Grand Prix Qualifying

Lotus Racing Australian Grand Prix Qualifying

The rain held off for Saturday’s running in Melbourne as Lotus Racing took to the track in earnest, keen to maintain their ‘best of the new teams’ record. Throughout the 3rd Practice both cars ran well, with Italian driver Jarno Trulli finishing with a time of 1.29.800 after 16 laps and Heikki Kovalainen completing 19 laps on a best time of 1.29.539. In qualifying itself Lotus Racing successfully maintained their record of best new team, finishing with Heikki Kovalainen 19th on 1:28:797 and Jarno Trulli 20th on 1.29.111.

Lotus Racing Australian Grand Prix Qualifying

Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Cosworth T127-03): “I had a problem with the seat which meant it wasn’t easy to drive, bouncing around in the car, so it was a difficult qualifying session. I’m pleased for the team though, as both cars are ahead of the new teams and we’re performing really well. It’s good to see that we have quite a big gap to the other new teams on this track and we’re very satisfied with that – we’re confident for tomorrow and we’ll do our best to try and finish the race again.”

Lotus Racing Australian Grand Prix Qualifying

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Cosworth T127-01): “It was a good run this afternoon. I got a good lap out of the car and out of the tyres and in general the car feels much better than it did in Bahrain. We have progressed with the set up, and as a team we are really stepping forward. Our aim for tomorrow is to make sure we stay ahead of the other new teams, and finish the race with both cars. I’m so happy with Lotus, and feel I have the chance to show what I can really do.”

Lotus Racing Australian Grand Prix Qualifying

Mike Gascoyne, Lotus Racing Chief Technical Officer: “It was a good solid job in qualifying, both drivers did very well and got the most out of the cars, and I’m very happy with the whole team. Apologies to Jarno for the seat problem, which must have hindered him. One area we’re very pleased with is the growing relationship with Cosworth from whom we’ve had excellent reliability to date.”

Lotus Racing Australian Grand Prix Qualifying

Team Principal Tony Fernandes rounded up the day’s achievement saying “Once again Lotus Racing has done us proud. Consistency and reliability are still our key aims, and the whole team has successfully maintained our quiet progress. Next step is to take the fight to Toro Rosso and BMW Sauber and we’ll keep on fighting to achieve that. As you know Australia is an important place for me, and I – along with all our fans and Clive’s lucky cap – am very much looking forward to seeing Lotus once again on the grid in Melbourne.”

Lotus Racing Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying Report

Lotus Racing T127 Bahrain Grand Prix F1 2010 lockup

Saturday in Bahrain saw Lotus Racing compete for the first time in qualifying with a host of famous faces dropping by and watching the action from the team’s pit and hospitality suite, among them former Lotus stars Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell. Qualifying itself was much as the team had anticipated, with Jarno Trulli finishing 20th on 1.59.852 and Heikki Kovalainen 21st on 2.00.313.

Both drivers gave their thoughts after the session, with Jarno saying: “All in all not too bad considering the amount of running we had this morning. We had some bad luck this weekend but the team has operated very well, in a very professional way, and we just need a bit more time to make the step forward we need in terms of performance. Tomorrow we need to try and finish the race, collect some useful data to find out more about what is right and wrong with the way the car behaves, and make that our main aim – finishing.”

Heikki Kovalainen added “Pretty much what we expected. The car was very reliable, which is good, and the performance was roughly where we knew we’d be. I’m reasonably happy – it probably isn’t the best qualifying lap I’ve ever done, and maybe I didn’t get everything out of it I should have done, but we have a good base to work from tomorrow. In practice yesterday the car felt like it would be good over long runs, and with the good reliability we have had we’ll see what happens tomorrow. The most important thing is to finish the race, and then we’ll see where we are.”

Mike Gascoyne, Lotus Racing Chief Technical Officer commented: “It’s a little bit mixed emotions today – we wanted to be the best of the new teams, and we just missed out on that by a fraction, but as the last of the new teams to have been given an entry, only six months ago, it’s a fantastic effort by the whole team to have finished our first qualifying session. We now look forward to the race and with the strength of our reliability, and two very experienced race drivers, now it’s all about finishing.”

Having arrived yesterday, Team Principal Tony Fernandes was at the track and was very proud to see the incredible efforts of everyone in the team over the last six months finally taking shape, saying “I’m happy, very very happy. It was fantastic to see Lotus back on the grid after a 16 year absence, and with the potential for so many things to have gone wrong, it’s just great to have finished our first qualifying session. Jarno broke the two minute mark and that’s a great achievement in itself.”

Giving his thoughts on the motor racing giants that came by the Lotus Racing garage, he added “It was great to see Emerson, Mario and Nigel today. It shows we have credibility and it’s a great endorsement from these legends that they see what we’re doing and, in whatever way, want to be a part of it. The dream continues and long may it last!”

[Press release from Lotus Racing]