indycar racing

Ex-Formula One driver, Jean Alesi, signed a contract with Newman/Haas yesterday to compete in the legendary Indianapolis 500 on 27th May 2012. Doubts had been growing over Alesi's chance of competing in the race, after one of Lotus' partners, HVM Racing owner Keith Wiggins, saying the money isn't there to support an extra seat.

We seem to be writing a lot about Lotus this year, but then they've been making the headlines - usually for all the right reasons. Up until recently we were praising Lotus for the incredible albeit pricey Evora, their collaboration with 1 Malaysia Racing Team in F1 (licensed under the name 'Lotus Racing') and then the nostalgic return of the Lotus-brand to Indy Car Racing, run by KV Racing and driven by ex-F1 pilot Takuma Sato. 2010 looked like being a pretty good year for Lotus fans.

And then it all went horribly wrong.