2012 Lotus Exige R-GT

Lotus made significant progress this week in developing the new Exige R-GT rally car. The Lotus International Rally team headed to the legendary rally Tarmac of St Remo, Italy, with works drivers Bernardo Sousa and Luca Rossetti. The Exige ran for 85km on Tuesday and 75km on Wednesday this week, and the testing was largely trouble free except for a small supercharger problem, which was remedied by changing the compressor belt. The team will carry out another two-day test ahead of the R-GT's race debut in FIA European Rally Championship on 19-21 April in Italy's Rally 1000 Miglia.

Bernardo Sousa: "I'm loving every km in the car, there is some work to do, but I'm sure that in the near future we will have some very good results, the car has great potential"

Claudio Berro, director of Lotus Racing: "The Lotus Exige R-GT's development continues to go to plan and we were satisfied with the performance, mileage and data we got from the car and drivers. We did a lot of work on set-up, and we should be perfectly prepared with a final two day test, schedule within the next ten days. Next week we'll be having a visit from the FIA to homologate the car, so things are coming together quickly. It's really exciting."