Although Lotus’ fate in running the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans seemed uncertain as both their LMP2 T128 race cars were confiscated by a French court just hours before an official practice session, they had somehow managed to get the situation sorted out quickly and have the cars blasting through the 13.679km Circuit de la Sarthe.
After the seizing, the team went straight to court rectify the situation between Lotus and the team managing their race cars, Kodewa, against Stephane Chosse who claimed that Lotus was in deep debt to him. But according to Lotus, the situation was actually the other way around and they managed to get the parts needed in the middle of the practice session.
Without wasting any more precious time, Lotus went straight in rebuilding their car and managed to put one of them to complete 16 laps in the practice session. The T128 #31 managed to set a fast lap of 3:51.880, putting them at 16th place in the packed LMP2 class. They then continued to improve as in the first of three qualifying sessions, #31 climbed up three places with a time of 3:47.920. Car #32 is still being rebuilt and is expected to be ready for the next session.
