Lotus unveil the T127

Lotus Racing this evening unveiled its 2010 challenger, the Lotus Cosworth T127, at a glittering event in London’s Royal Horticultural Hall.

Team principal Tony Fernandes was joined on stage by chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne and drivers Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen and Fairuz Fauzy to take the wraps off the car in front of a 500 strong audience.

“I am extremely proud to be here today and to be able to show the world the fruits of the team’s hard work over the last five months," said Fernandes. "It’s humbling for me and my fellow shareholders, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin to see how a team that five months ago didn’t even exist is now a thriving workforce, full of enthusiasm and passion for Lotus Racing and the challenges ahead and capable of producing such a beautiful machine in such a short time.

“Now we’ve achieved two major milestones; confirming our entry and unveiling our car, but now the real work starts. Next we move on to testing and the season ahead and I’m confident that the team will exceed expectations wherever we go, and will do so on a wave of support around the world that has been growing daily since we first unleashed Lotus Racing back in September 2009.”

Mike Gascoyne added his thoughts. "The last few months have been some of the most challenging of my career, but it’s been a challenge the whole team and I have thrived on since we first started work on the car up in Norfolk. I’m delighted that we’ve reached this point, and now we have a beautiful car that gives us a great base to work from for the season ahead and a fighting chance of going racing in the right way, with a winning mentality.

"The hard part starts now, and I know everyone in the team and I are up for whatever lies ahead.”

The new team is scheduled to test next week at Jerez having completed a shakdown of the new challenger at Silverstone earlier this week.