Lotus have said that their 2010 car will debut next month at the Jerez test in mid February.

With Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen driving for the team with Fairuz Fauzy at the test driver, Lotus is currently based in Norfolk, although a second facility based at Kuala Lumpur’s Sepang circuit is also set to be opened.

This means that the team will miss the opening two tests however. Lotus’s Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne said:

“When we got the entry on September 12, our schedule said we would fire up on February 12, and we are now scheduled to fire up on February 5. After that, we will be at the second Jerez test and then the final one at Barcelona.

“That will be the first time the world will see the car in action, and we are hoping that chassis two will run for the last two days of the Barcelona test. Being a week ahead of schedule is pretty good considering it is modern F1. To get an entry on September 12 and to be there in good shape is not a bad effort.”