Spirits are high as Lotus Racing turns to China and the final race before the European season kicks off in Spain. The team is again focusing on reliability and the challenge of seeing both cars cross the finish line before its first major performance upgrade is unveiled in Barcelona.<\/p>\n
Team Principal Tony Fernandes <\/a>on seeing Lotus Racing on track for the first time in China: \u201cI\u2019m delighted we\u2019ve arrived in China and can\u2019t wait to see the fans\u2019 reaction to us here. It\u2019s an honour to be in Shanghai as China is the home of the new world and has been a very important market for AirAsia, so it\u2019s somewhere I\u2019m always excited about coming to. We are thrilled that we are bringing Lotus Racing, a uniquely Asian – British team, to the Shanghai Grand Prix<\/a>, particularly as we have a number of people within the team with Chinese heritage who are very proud to see our team here for the first time. I know the whole team will work hard to put on a good show on and off track, and I hope that this demonstrates that we can provide a very good platform for universities, commercial partners and future drivers across China to work with a team whose heart beats close to our Asian home.\u201d<\/p>\n Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne<\/a>\u2019s thoughts turned to the challenges Shanghai will present, saying; \u201cIt\u2019s just a couple of weeks since Malaysia and the last of the early season fly-away races so we\u2019re focusing on getting both cars across the finish line here before we turn our attention to the upgrade package we have planned for Barcelona. The guys back at the factory have worked very hard on the parts we sent back, and have done a great job to turn around everything in time and get it sent back out here. Our car\u2019s race pace has been good so far, and I think we\u2019ll see that again in Shanghai \u2013 it\u2019s a technical circuit that will bring out the best in both our drivers, and I think their experience will see us build on the solid start we\u2019ve had so far.\u201d<\/p>\n Heikki Kovalainen<\/a> is a big fan of China, and is looking forward to the all aspects of the race: \u201cI feel really good coming into the Chinese Grand Prix \u2013 I\u2019ve had a few days of solid training and a bit of golf since leaving Malaysia and I love coming to China. We have some great fans out here – they wait at the hotel all night just to get an autograph and always give us really good presents to take home. Last year some girls took a taxi and followed us to the hotel with a Finnish flag hanging out the window all the way! The country has great food and a deep culture; every time I come here I see something new.<\/p>\n “The Shanghai track itself is a good challenge for the drivers. The two straights both provide overtaking opportunities and there are some nice high speed sections. The hospitality area has a fantastic atmosphere and it looks like nowhere else on the calendar, so all in all I\u2019m very excited about being out here.\u201d<\/p>\n