Group Lotus has announced the appointment of Claudio Berro to the new role of Director of Motorsport, reporting directly to Dany Bahar, Group Lotus CEO.

Prior to joining Lotus, Berro held the position of Operations Racing Director for the Speedcar series. Before that, he spent 14 years at Ferrari, Maserati and Fiat where he held such positions as Formula One Team Manager, Director responsible for all sport activities for Ferrari and Maserati (excluding F1), General Manager Maserati Corse and Director of Fiat Group's Motorsport Activities, before becoming Racing Operations Director for Abarth.

His move to Lotus sees him link up with another former Ferrari man - and one whose departure from Maranello raised a few eyebrows - Bahar, the Italian outfit's former Commercial and Brand Development & Partners Director, who joined Lotus in September.
"Lotus has a peerless motorsport heritage," said Berro, "not just in Formula One, but we have also won in sportscar racing, saloon car racing, world rally championships, Le Mans and the Indy 500. There is no other car company in the world which can lay claim to so many accolades and championships in such a wide variety of motorsport fields, and I am looking forward to re-introducing Lotus to high level motorsport to not only compete and win but also to demonstrate the shared technology between Lotus sportscars and future racing cars."

"I am delighted that Claudio is joining us as Director of Motorsport," added Bahar." He has a proven track record of not only setting up and managing the motorsport's divisions within sportscar brands but also winning championships in GT racing and rallying. His skills will be very valuable as we look to return Lotus to high level motorsport around the world. "

This isn't the first time that Claudio has been associated with Lotus, as early in his motorsport career, he was Co-Driver for Peugeot Talbot Italia in a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, twice becoming Italian Group 2 Rally Champion in 1981 and 1982.