Now that its ties with the Lotus name are broken, the newly-named Caterham outfit has confirmed that it is relocating its Formula 1 and GP2 teams to Leafield in Oxfordshire. Since joining the sport in 2010, the Tony Fernandes-owned team has been based in Hingham, Norfolk.
As Team Lotus becomes Caterham F1 and the AirAsia GP2 squad also takes on the new name, Fernandes is pleased to move into another stage of the companies’ lives. The new Leafield base in question has previously been a home to both the Arrows and Super Aguri F1 squads; Williams is also based in Oxfordshire.
“The factory in Hingham has been our home since we were first granted our entry into the F1 World Championship in September 2009 and it has served us extremely well, giving us the perfect platform to establish both the F1 team and our GP2 team in the first stages of our development,” explains the Team Principal and Malaysian entrepreneur.
“However, as both teams grew and in the planning process we went through when acquiring Caterham Cars and establishing the wider Caterham Group, it became clear that we needed to house the car company in the same facility as our racing operations, to give us the best chance to meet our future goals on and off-track. We began looking for a site that could be adapted to suit the future needs of our racing and road car operations and Leafield quickly became the obvious choice.
“We propose moving the F1 and GP2 teams to the new site in or around August 2012, giving us ample time to build up the infrastructure required to house all the critical elements of both teams, and propose moving Caterham Cars into a new, bespoke development and production facility on the same site in due course.
“The factory in Hingham is where the dream began and we will continue to develop that site into the new permanent home for Caterham Composites. While it will obviously be sad if the F1 and GP2 teams move on from Hingham we are not saying goodbye to Norfolk. This will be the next chapter in the development of both our motor racing teams and our road car company and gives us the best chance to keep progressing on track and, in future, on the road with Caterham Cars.”
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer for Caterham F1, is now dedicating more time to the Caterham Composites side of the operation and will therefore attend less races in 2012.
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