The new QPR owner claimed to have bought the marque from David Hunt – brother
of 1976 world champion James Hunt – although Hunt disputed whether he was
ever fully paid for it. With neither side willing to back down, Team Lotus
and Group Lotus fought a bitter court battle earlier this year to decide
which of them had the rights to the name in Formula One.
Many millions of pounds later a High Court judge did not rule definitively in
favour of one side or the other, telling them that Team Lotus could continue
to race under that name but that Group Lotus retained the right to use the
Lotus marque in F1 if it chose to enter its own team.
Fernandes, however, had by then already launched a backup plan by buying
Dartford-based sports car manufacturer Caterham in April.
That led to new talks with Group Lotus, which ended with them submitting the
joint request to change their names that was resolved yesterday.
Fernandes will now launch Caterham cars predominantly at the Asian market
using the F1 team to push the brand, while Group Lotus will clearly use
Formula One to sell its road cars.
There is even speculation that the Renault team’s owners, Luxembourg-based
Genii Capital, may have bought Group Lotus from Malaysian manufacturer
Proton, thus maintaining a direct interest in both the car manufacturer and
the team.
As for Marussia, the Russian sports car manufacturer will now get the profile
it hoped to get when it signed as Virgin Racing’s title sponsor last year.
It struggled to make any inroads as long as the chassis name was Virgin
since that is what commentators and journalists use to describe a team.
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin brand will remain prominent on the car, with the
British entrepreneur having signed a new four-year deal which will see him
pay a certain amount in sponsorship, as well as attend a minimum number of
races and help the team to find sponsors.