Team Lotus Release Fairuz Fauzy as Friday Driver

Team Lotus might have to wait for a few weeks or even months to find out on what conditions they may tackle the 2011 campaign of Formula One (team name, livery and so on), but as far as their official lineup is concerned, things look to become pretty clear. According to Fairuz Fauzy's management, it seems the Malaysian racer has been laid off as official Friday driver of the Norfolk based team.

While Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen have been confirmed for a new season with the team – although not press release has been issued on this topic, the drivers being the ones to confirm their stay at Norfolk – Fauzy will not get to enjoy the atmosphere inside Team Lotus for an additional year.

Although he initially signed a 5-year deal with the team, his father and manager Haji Fauzy revealed Tony Fernandes' organization “prematurely terminated” the contract last week “without reason.”

“We are now looking at all avenues to fit him as a full time race driver in an international racing series of the same stature, but of course formula one is our main priority,” added Fauzy Snr, according to a report from the GMM news agency. However, the driver's management released a statement for the media shortly after Lotus' move, in which they said they respect the decision.

Fauzy has been named reserve driver for Lotus F1 Racing at the beginning of the year and was at one point tipped with decent chances of making the transition to official race driver for the team in the future. Team Lotus is yet to announce the reasoning behind its decision, or whether a new test/reserve driver will be announced to replace the Kuala Lumpur-born racer.

During the 2010 Formula One season, Fauzy made 4 Friday appearances in the Lotus T127 racer, in the Malaysian, British, German and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.