Lotus deal to be done ‘next week’

The Quantum Motorsport deal to purchase 35% of the Lotus team could be completed within days.

Quantum Motorsports is a consortium of business types from the United States of America, Abu Dhabi and Brunei who are now close to finalising the deal which has been agreed with Lotus owners Genii Capital.

The deal should ease Lotus ongoing financial fears, with an immediate cash input for the team and impending major sponsorship agreements.

It should also mean that Lotus can capitalise on the availability of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. The German driver, who is one of the highest rated drivers on the grid, narrowly missed out on a drive at Ferrari for next season and has been in talks with Lotus for a number of months.

Following the USA Grand Prix, head of Quantum Mansoor Ijaz and Lotus Team Principal Eric Boullier spoke to Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle and he asked the important questions regarding the finance deal it was bringing the team and whether or not that would mean a drive for Nico Hulkenberg.

‘We’re going to make that part of it happen in terms of making sure he [Boullier] gets enough money. One of the things I did over the past three weeks while things kept on getting slowed down was we put other opportunities that we had in place to go ahead and fund,’ Ijaz said.

‘So in fact we may bring a lot more money to the table than we initially anticipated just to make sure that the back stop behind the team to keep it going for a very long time. That’s part one, just to buy into the team.

‘The second part is the sponsorships that we’re going to bring. Now no sponsor’s going to come on board from our side until they know that the share purchase part of the occasion is complete. But when that’s complete then those sponsorships will come pretty quickly – and they’re major sponsorships we’re talking about, they’re not small sponsorships.’

It’s easy to assume that if Hulkenberg does sign for Lotus, then the sponsorships brought to the table from Quantum have to be pretty hefty, because Pastor Maldonado is backed by ?30 million-a-season in sponsorship from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and with him already quitting Williams for next season, Lotus will have to be pretty certain if they are to pass up that particular cash cow.