Lotus F1 Racing chief Mike Gascoyne believes his team can be the best of the new additions to Formula 1.
The team, absent from F1 since 1994, only registered for next season in September, joining Campos Meta, Manor GP and US F1 on the grid for 2010.
"Our initial aim is to be the best of the new teams and I think we are on our way to achieving that," said Gascoyne.
"We can't hide from the fact that we are late to the party but we have already made good progress."
Gascoyne has more than 20 years experience in the sport and can list Renault, Jordan and Toyota amongst his fellow employers.
"We have to be realistic but our aim during 2010 will be to head the group of new entries and continually reduce the gap between our performance and those of the established teams," added Gascoyne.
He revealed that the team already have a model of the car running in the wind tunnel and feels that they are more than capable to meet the economic demands of the sport.
606: DEBATE"Adaptation to changing circumstances is the key to long-term survival and I think this is the sort of evolution process that Formula 1 is experiencing at the moment," he said.
Between 1958 and 1994, Lotus won 79 races and can list world champions Graham Hill and Emerson Fittipaldi among former drivers.
The reformed franchise has been funded by Malaysian companies Tune Group and Naza Group and will have a budget of £55 million for next season.
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