Sato excluded from Lotus makes way for Trulli and Kovalainen

The driver line-up for next season for the Lotus team appears to be Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen after Takuma Sato’s camp was informed that he had failed to secure a seat with the team.

Sato was considered Kovalainen’s rival for a seat at Lotus while Trulli was the favorite for the other cockpit. Lotus was supposed to announce its line-up tomorrow, but Sato’s manager, Matthew Winter, claims that his driver has been left out: “We know that Taku didn’t get a place at Lotus, we found out yesterday,” he told Reuters. “He is now off the list.”

Winter had hoped that Takuma Sato would be welcomed favorably by the Lotus owners because the team is ultimately based in Malaysia and was founded by Air Asia entrepreneur Tony Fernandes: « We didn’t know the criteria. We thought he was a very strong competitor. They won’t get more Asian than Taku, » explained the Japanese manager.

Sato had hoped for this return to Formula 1 next season after the withdrawal of Super Aguri two years ago. He had also been linked to the IndyCar series but stated that F1 was his first priority. With the Lotus option slipping away, Winter conceded that the hopes of getting a seat for 2010 in F1 were now slim: « We have not given up. There are still a few spots left and we’ll try to track them down! »