The new Lotus E23 ran for the first time on Monday morning at Jerez after an overnight car build in Spain.
The team's 2015 car didn't arrive at the circuit until Sunday evening having missed the whole first day of running. With the car rebuild taking place overnight and in to Monday, Lotus originally announced that "the first significant running [is] expected for Tuesday February 3". However, the car was ready to run before 10:30 on the second day of testing, with Pastor Maldonado taking it out for an installation lap.
Technical director Nick Chester explained that the team had simply run out of time to get the car built at the factory before flying it out to Spain.
“We have been pursuing a very tight and aggressive build programme with the E23 Hybrid which is one of the most technically advanced cars to have come out of Enstone," Chester said. "We will take to the track with this car as soon as we are ready from an engineering perspective.
"We’ve fired-up the car at Enstone and we’re now putting everything together ahead of the first laps on track. Everyone at Enstone is very positive with what we’ve seen of the E23 Hybrid so far and we’re looking forward to it turning its wheels in anger for the first time later this week.”
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