Veteran defender Jarno Trulli could be the key to the name dispute
Group Lotus and Team Lotus have agreed to drop their court actions and resolve their legal dispute in a five-a-side football match in Kuala Lumpur next Wednesday.
Sources say that the idea was suggested to Tony Fernandes by Her Majesty the Queen when the Malaysian entrepreneur received his CBE at Buckingham Palace yesterday. Fernandes, a life long fan of West Ham United, immediately agreed.
The Air Asia boss contacted Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar through his lawyers and, against expectations, a deal was concluded by last night. Proton is said to be relieved that the potentially damaging court action is over.
The match is to be played at 8pm in the Malaysian National Stadium in Bukit Jalil – where the Queen herself opened the 1998 Commonwealth Games – and will see driver squads from each team in action, both sides having the option to field substitutes.
Lotus Renault has Vitaly Petrov, Nick Heidfeld, Bruno Senna, Romain Grosjean, Fairuz Fauzy, Ho-Pin Tung, Jan Charouz and recently announced F1 demo driver Nicolas Prost, while Team Lotus will field charity football veteran Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen, Karun Chandhok, Davide Velsecchi, Luiz Razia and Ricardo Teixeira.
Lotus Cars has requested permission to add IRL contender Takuma Sato after Ferrari refused to let Lotus ART GP2 driver Jules Bianchi participate.
The Queen reportedly told Fernandes yesterday that she was disappointed that the Lotus name has been dragged through the mud in recent times.
Although Her Majesty is not noted as a keen follower of motor sport she is known to be a fan of the Lotus marque thanks to her children. Princess Anne used to own a Europa before replacing it with a Reliant Scimitar, and while better known as an Aston Martin man Prince Charles briefly owned an Esprit in the 1970s. His mother is believed to have occasionally borrowed it for evening drives around London, and is rumoured to once been stopped for speeding on Park Lane.
It’s thought that Bahar agreed on the basis that he can regain a Royal Warrant for the company, and is hoping that either Prince William or Prince Harry will take delivery of an Evora.
Prince Charles takes delivery of his Lotus Esprit in 1979
Princess Diana was another fan of the Norfolk marque
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 
Not to forget today is April 1st
This is why we need a race every week – to keep you journalists out of trouble!
Fantastic news! If only everyone could settle their differences in such a “sporting” manner!
Happy April 1st!
😀
As soon as I read the first paragraph, I had to check the date and… yup, it’s that day again. Good one, a fun read!
Very funny!
I heard Lotus Group has just hired Lionel Messi as reserve driver for the race in Malaysia.
Nice one. 🙂
April 1…
Can’t believe I forgot to check the date before tweeting this – well done!
How I wish this was true!
lol !
LOLz!
Ah Adam, I see you listened to Sidepodcast’s post-Australia podcast too…
I have never heard of that – and I have never listened to anybody’s podcast ever, I don’t know how to. Seriously.
booo! 😉
Well, it just goes to show that great minds think alike then!
I actually mentioned the 5-a-side thing in a Tweet a couple of weeks ago so maybe they got it from me anyway…
Ahhaa, the plot thickens…
Anyway, I enjoy reading your stuff and listening to theirs, so good on both of you, whoever thought of it first!
Makes perfect sense. At least as much sense as Lotus Renault
Hey! You had me there for a sec.
Honestly, it was the best news in this whole sorry saga.
The game will be refereed by Bernie Ecclestone. He will at times turn on the sprinkler installation to artificially increase the entertainment on the pitch.
For a poor soul like me, I mailed team Lotus PR to confirm the news. They replied with 3 words “1st April 2011”.
You took me on ride Adam,but good one.
Damn good idea!
Nice one Adam 🙂
Doh. You got me.
LOL, I read this on the third, so I was completely taken aback XD
Luckily I double checked before putting this on FB!!!