The Lotus Praga T128 LMP2 made a positive start to 2013 as it made its qualifying debut for the FIA World Endurance Championship today.
Following a challenging first day the team made progress with the new car as it finished qualifying in fifth and sixth position in the strong LMP2 class.
Driver of the #32 Lotus Jan Charouz was pleased with the performance of the car but admitted the qualifying session was a challenge for the team.
“It was a crazy qualifying session today with rain just in the beginning of the session” said Charouz. “My team mate Dominik Kraihamer was doing his laps at first and I was out afterwards when the track dried up again. We are fifth in LMP2 class which is a good result for us and we are very pleased about it.
“The car was better compared to the morning session and it was a step in the right direction” he added.
Ex-F1 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi and pilot of the #31 car was happy with the progress the team have made with the car. “We had a good qualifying under difficult weather conditions” he said. “We started on slicks with Christophe Bouchut and changed for intermediate tyres because the track was very wet and slippery. For my stint, we changed back to slicks as the track dried up again.
“Starting from sixth position into the race with the new car is very good and we are quite pleased about this result. We keep on working hard to improve the car and we hope to have a good race tomorrow.”
