Founded by the late Colin Chapman, Team Lotus won seven constructors' titles between 1963 and 1978 before folding in 1994 with the rights to the name bought by David Hunt, brother of Britain's former world champion James. Although Tony Fernandez has bought the brand name for his F1 racing team, a battle for the rights to use the name Lotus in various motorsport activities brings in a clear "Lotus" brand name ownership dispute. On the one side there is Group Lotus, the Lotus stock car branch backed by former Red Bull and Ferrari marketing man Dany Bahar, and on the other there is Tony Fernandes, who acquired the rights to use the Lotus Racing name in F1 and has been negotiating for some months to get the Team Lotus identity from David Hunt, who has owned it with two investors since the end of 1994. However tensions between Group Lotus and Lotus Racing are not new. Since the F1 project started, Group Lotus ignited an expansion of its interest in motor sport in order to increase Lotus stock cars publicity. Takuma Sato’s IRL entry sponsored by Group Lotus was the first move and later Group Lotus has announced company's plan to build a millionaire's "track day car" using F1 technology.
Tony Fernandez focus on his F1 project obliged him to put his frustation aside but tensions have been emerged again after a series of incidents that took place ahead of 2011 racing season. First, the GP2 organizers revealed that they had given a 2011 entry to an "Air Asia" team, which logic suggested would be a Lotus junior project.
On the event series organiser Bruno Michel commented in a statement.
"Team Air Asia is a new team built on a strong relationship with a current Formula One team presided (over) by Tony Fernandes... The seriousness of their presentation, their ambition and their worldwide project were really appealing and in line with what we expect from all our teams. We are very happy to welcome an Asian team to our paddock."
However, Group Lotus has responded with an announcement that it has linked up with ART and will brand the latter’s GP2 and GP3 teams as Lotus when there is already a Fernandes-approved Lotus team in the Renault 3.5 series, run by Fairuz Fauzy.
The connections between Group Lotus and ART, co-owned by Nicolas Todt, are obvious. Aside from Bahar – brought to Ferrari by Jean Todt – the other two key people there are Serbian Miodrag Kotur and Canadian Gianni Rosato.
Kotur was for many years Todt Sr.’s right hand man at Maranello in a team coordinator role, while former Montreal hotel employee Rosato was Ferrari’s "Mr. Fixit," often spotted performing a sort of bodyguard role for Michael Schumacher. ART team manager Frederic Vasseur added: "The goal is clear: winning together the future GP2 and GP3 championships. I can't wait to see the new livery of our racing cars."
There is clearly a battle under way for the rights to use the Lotus and/or Team Lotus name in motor sport, and Malaysian politics are also a part of it, since Group Lotus is owned by Malaysian Proton that backs; Fernandes F1 project as well who is one of the country’s highest profile businessmen.
While there is no firm evidence that Group Lotus now wants to get involved in F1, there's no secret which are the actual ambitions of Todt Jr. Some reports suggest that a Group Lotus/ART/Toyota Cologne relationship is being discussed. Clearly what none of those parties have is an entry for 2011.
Intriguingly, UK government documents from the Intellectual Property Office show that Group Lotus applied to use the name Team Lotus in connection with a raft of activities, some of them way beyond motor sport, but mostly connected with the sort of souvenirs and memorabilia that can be well associated with an F1 team.
Additionally, Hunt’s business, Team Lotus Ventures, also applied to use the name Team Lotus for similar activities.
