The Lotus Exige R-GT made its debut as a course car at the weekend's Geko
Ypres rally in West Flanders, among the most beautiful rally venues in the
world.
Portuguese driver Bernardo Sousa, who is set to race the Lotus Exige R-GT in
anger later this year, drove the official car ahead of its first race in the
FIA European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
As part of the continuous development programme of the Exige R-GT, Ypres
offered the Lotus International Team the opportunity of track time and also
gave the rally world a chance to have a close look at Lotus's exciting GT
class challenger with the team of Sousa and Corrado Mancini on board. Rival
drivers and fans alike were clamouring to get up close to the Exige all
weekend.
The team took advantage of the 18 special stages of the rally to test
different set-ups, engine modes and electronics solutions. There were no
major technical problems, only some small teething issues regarded as normal
in the development of the car that has covered only 1,000 km of testing to
date. The only issues were an alternator failure and a faulty brake
connection.
"The car continues its phase of growth and evolution," explained Bernardo
Sousa. "Here in Ypres progress has been steady and significant. The great
potential of the Exige R-GT is emerging day after day. In this phase the
team and I are trying to achieve the highest reliability and are only
relatively interested in the stage times, even if I must say that the car is
proving to be faster every day. I am very satisfied with both the car and
the level of professionalism that the Lotus International Team is showing
every day."
The next event for the team is this weekend at the Goodwood Festival of
Speed, where Lotus is the featured marque, followed by two separate private
test sessions to be held by July 15th.

Lotus International Rally Team