Renault has officially confirmed its “controlling shareholding of Lotus F1 Team Limited”. In a statement issued on Monday, several hours after an insolvency petition that would have put the Enstone team into administration was formally dismissed, reads as follows:
On Friday 18 December 2015, Groupe Renault and Gravity Motorsport S.a.rl, an affiliate of Genii Capital SA, formally and successfully completed the acquisition by Groupe Renault of a controlling shareholding of Lotus F1 Team Limited.
Renault F1.
The new team name, full management structure, team partners and other details will be announced during an event to be held in Paris in February.
In the interim, a new board of directors has been appointed, with Jérôme Stoll as Chairman and Cyril Abiteboul as Managing Director.
Following the signing of a letter of intent by Groupe Renault and Gravity Motorsport S.a.rl on 28 September 2015, the parties entered into the various agreements on 3 December 2015. Since then, all parties involved have been working relentlessly to comply with all of the contractual and legal obligations under the agreements to enable the transaction to successfully complete.
The technical teams are making good progress to have the 2016 car ready for testing in Barcelona at the end of February.
(Of course, while all this is going on, the factory is making seven replacement chassis. One for Gutierrez and six for Maldonado.)
