It has emerged that Group Lotus are purely a title sponsor of the new Lotus-Renault outfit, despite claims they had taken a ‘major’ shareholding in the outfit, according to well-respected F1 journalist Joe Saward.
An announcement in December confirmed that Group Lotus would become title sponsor of the team, owned at the time by Genii Capital, an investment firm which purchased the outfit from Renault in late 2009.
However, they also claimed that they had acquired a ‘major’ shareholding – this claim though seems to be unfounded as Genii Capital still claim to own 100% of the team.
Also confirmed, were ongoing negotiations with Group Lotus, a division of Proton, to acquire shares up to a maximum of 50%.
Genii Capital’s claim would also quash recent rumours that Renault had re-acquired a stake in the team after their successful resurgence in 2010 in which they finished fifth, 51 points behind Mercedes GP.
This further confuses matters between Team Lotus and Group Lotus, both of which are awaiting legal advice over the use of the Lotus brand in the sport.
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