Lotus has found its director

Last month, Tony Fernandes, the interim director of Lotus, explained that he wanted to hand over the reins to a more experienced general manager, preferably Malaysian. This has now happened, except that the new director, in the person of Claudio Berro, is Italian. Previously, Berro was the operations director for the Speedcar International Series Race in the Middle East and before that, he spent 14 years in various roles at Ferrari, Maserati, and FIAT.

«Lotus Motorsport has an unparalleled heritage, and not just in Formula One, but we have also won in GT series, World Rally Championships as well as Le Mans and the Indy 500», said Berro. «There is no other car manufacturer in the world that can claim so many accolades and championships in such a variety of motorsport fields, and I look forward to seeing the reincarnation of Lotus in high-level motorsport, not only to compete and win but also to demonstrate the technology sharing between sports cars and future Lotus racing cars.»

The director of the Lotus group, Dany Bahar, added: “I am delighted that Claudio is joining us as sports and general director. He has proven experience not only in setting up and managing motorsport divisions within motor racing brands, but also in winning racing and endurance GT championships. His skills will be very valuable as we want Lotus to return to the highest level of global motorsport.”

At the beginning of his career in motorsport, Berro was a rally co-driver for Peugeot Talbot Italia in a Lotus Sunbeam Talbot, becoming two-time Rally champion in Italy in 1981 and 1982. He will join Lotus on November 2.