Lotus Racing announces more track time for Fairuz
As we arrive at the mid-point of the 19-race Formula One Championship, Lotus Racing today organized a small press conference to announce four more Friday Practice (FP1) sessions for rising Malaysian driver Fairuz Fauzy. In attendance of the press conference were Team Principal Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes, Deputy Team Principal Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun and Team CEO En Riad Asmat. Fairuz and Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne also participated via Skype video conference from the UK.
With pre-season testing laps at Jerez and Barcelona in addition to an earlier FP1 session at the Malaysian GP already under his belt, Fairuz now gets to add Silverstone, Hungary, Singapore and Abu Dhabi into his logbook. Fairuz’s track time comes by him alternately practicing two races each in the cars of Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovaleinen.
Fairuz is understandably excited about the challenge ahead, starting with the team’s second home race at Silverstone this weekend, “First I want to thank Tony, Mike and the whole team for the chance to get back in the car. I really can’t wait to see how far we’ve moved forward since I was last out on track, and I’m very proud to have been given the chance to play another active role in our continuing development. I did the shakedown of chassis 04 at Snetterton a couple of weeks ago, but obviously couldn’t really push there, so it’ll be great to get back out and add whatever I can to help the team keep moving towards the midfield. To start out at Silverstone is going to be very special indeed – I live literally a few metres from the track, so I’ll have a lot of friends, family and fans there to cheer me and the whole team on, and it’ll be great to be among the first F1 cars to try out the new section. I’m also really looking forward to the other three races, particularly Singapore as there is a unique challenge to racing under the lights, but also because there will be a lot of fans there from Malaysia and Singapore, and it’ll be great to put on a good show for them.”
Mike Gascoyne is also looking forward to seeing Fairuz in the car, “Every time Fairuz has been out on track for us he’s done a great job, and taking part in four more races is a just reward for the contribution he’s already made to the establishment and growth of our team. It’s another chance for us to learn more about how to get the most out of him in the car, as well as providing us with another invaluable viewpoint on the characteristics of our car.”
Fernandes was equally complimenting, saying that “I’m absolutely delighted Fairuz will back in the hot seat at four more races – he’s done an excellent job for us whenever he’s been out on track, and his enthusiasm and input throughout race weekends, whether he’s in or out of the car, has made him a real asset to the whole team. But for me it’s not just about the fact he’ll be taking part in those Friday sessions – it’s also important to see that Fairuz is proving that hard work, perseverance and dedication can make dreams come true, whoever you are, and wherever you are in the world.
“Everyone in Malaysia is behind him, and Zulfahmi Khairuddin in MotoGP 125, another Malaysian flying the flag in international motorsport, and they are proving that talent and dedication can take you right to the very top. Fahmi will be adding more points to his tally very soon, and while Fairuz isn’t yet in a position to score points, his technical input will provide us with more very useful data, and that’s obviously very important. Equally important is the inspirational role he continues to play which will, I believe, also help us take another step forward, and I’d like to thank him for that as well.”
When asked about the team’s plans to develop talents in the motorsport scene, Fernandes noted that motorsport is not only about drivers, but also the people behind the scenes making things work – engineers, timekeepers, management, business development, marketing etc. To that end, En Riad explained that the team is in discussion with universities in the UK to grant students the opportunity to work with the team in some capacity. It was also revealed that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia will also be sending a delegation to visit the team’s headquarters in the UK soon.
As one of our media colleagues rightly puts it, Lotus’ approach of gradually easing Fairuz into action by first exposing him to the practice rounds instead of plunging him head-on into a race makes for a sensible approach. With the vast amounts of resources invested into the team, we hope that this project would open up new opportunities for fledgling motorsport talents, in front or behind the scenes, to develop their abilities.
