Lotus confirm E20 launch for 2012 Formula One season

Hethel-backed Lotus have confirmed their 2012 charger will be named the E20 – to celebrate the team's 20 years at its base in Enstone, Oxfordshire.

The former Renault team will run with a Lotus chassis for the first time this season – but will not take on the Team Lotus chassis numbers, which were previously used by Colin Chapman and last season, Hingham's Team Lotus.

The E20 will be driven by Kimi R�ikk�nen and Romain Grosjean this season, and will be launched on the team's website on February 5 – two days before the first official test of the winter in Jerez.

'Our naming of the chassis to recognise Enstone's importance to the team's evolution highlights our recognition of the contribution of the facility and the personnel who work tirelessly every year to produce the very best car possible,' said team principal Eric Boullier.

'We certainly hope that this is the case with the E20 and we are looking forward to revealing the car to the world and seeing it out on track for the first time.

'There are a number of technical changes from last year and we have an exciting new driver line-up to extract the maximum from the E20 through the twenty Grands Prix of the 2012 season, including the 500th race for this team through its different incarnations. We hope that the E20 proves to be a performing Enstone design.'

The team, previously known as Benetton and Renault, moved to Enstone back in 1992 and has taken F1 world titles with both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.