21/03/2011
NEWS STORY
Ahead of the court hearing in the case of the battle for the rights to the Lotus name, David Hunt, who bought the Team Lotus name from the administrator when the outfit was wound up in 1994, has launched an astonishing attack on Tony Fernandes.
According to the Englishman, who Fernandes (right) previously described as "the most honourable man" in the whole Lotus debacle, the Team Lotus boss has reneged on an agreement the two struck leaving the two formers allies in a dispute of their own.
"When we had to make the Team Lotus staff redundant in 1995 I made a promise to them and the fans to return it to F1 in the hands of a worthy custodian," Hunt told the Daily Telegraph, "and initially I had high hopes that Tony, Din and Nasa (his business partners) were going to tick the boxes.
"What angers me is that I have, in good faith, worked extremely hard on the build-up to the hearing because I believed Tony would honour our January agreement," he continued. "He's apparently "changed his mind" at the 11th hour, by his own admission, now that I've done so much work on his company's behalf, and he's trying to renegotiate by offering new terms which are, frankly, ludicrous.
"All I'm looking for is for Tony to stick to his word and honour our agreement," he added. "If he doesn't, then regrettably I don't see why I should continue to provide assistance and this trial won't be the last battle he's facing, even if he wins."
Hunt also claims that there are "serious holes" in Team Lotus case against Group Lotus.