Renault Confirms Fauzy as Reserve Driver

With Group Lotus becoming the main sponsor of the former Renault F1 Team, the Enstone based organization had to give something back. And since Lotus' mother company is Malaysian carmaker Proton, giving their reserve driver role to a Malaysian racer would pretty much make sense.

Although some French media and a well-known F1 commentator hinted that it will be Romain Grosjean to take that role with Lotus Renault GP, it has now been confirmed by team manager Eric Boullier that 28-year-old Malaysian driver Fairuz Fauzy will complete the team's lineup for 2011.

“We will focus on Fairuz's progress and evaluate his capabilities to be a race driver for us,” revealed Boullier, according to the Bernama news agency.

The news brings further arguments that Fauzy is a Proton-supported driver. Last year, when the Malaysian carmaker gave Tony Fernandes' team the Lotus Racing name license, Fauzy was appointed 3rd driver and signed a 5-year deal with the squad. As soon as that license was revoked a few months back, Fauzy left the team.

Now that Proton has become an important part of the Lotus Renault GP project, Fauzy is again part of it. In addition to his role within the Enstone team, he will also drive for Super Nova team in the GP2 Series, a squad that features significant Proton branding for the 2011 campaign.

During his one-year stint with Lotus Racing last year, Fauzy drove the T127 race car during the Friday practice sessions of the Malaysian, British, German and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.