Lotus extends Gasgoyne deal as Mike finds an F1 home

Negative Camber

Sep 29, 2010

Lotus Racing has extended its deal with technical chief Mike Gasgoyne until 2015.

That’s right, Gasgoyne apparently is going to finish a season at the same team where we started it.

Here’s Mike, via the BBC. I’m not seeing a Lotus release yet:

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“Having started the team from scratch with Tony it was always my intention to finish my career here.
“So it’s great to have formally agreed a five-year deal. I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to the whole team.”
The 47-year-old added: “We’ve had a great start to our partnership together, and I’m looking forward to continuing that for the next five years, and even beyond that.”
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The signing is being spun as a bit of positive news given Lotus Racing’s dust-up over the Lotus name with Lotus street-car producer Proton. Here’s Tony Fernandes:

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“Mike’s five year deal is a major announcement for the whole Lotus Racing team,” he said.
“It shows just how serious we are, not only about how far ahead we are setting our aspirations, but also as a reward to Mike for the incredibly hard work he and the team have already put in to get us from literally four people back in September 2009 to our current position as a serious F1 player with a very bright future ahead of us.”
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Tony keeps going on about how established the team is and what a bright future it has. Do you agree that Lotus is the most solid of the new teams? Do you have any worries about its future? And how much is the Lotus name fight worrying you?

And: Do you think extending Gasgoyne’s deal was a good decision?