Force India says Team Lotus chiefs ‘charged’

London’s high court will not hear a civil espionage case involving the Force India and Team Lotus teams until early next year.

Last year, Force India launched legal action against Lotus, its technical boss Mike Gascoyne and Italian wind tunnel Aerolab.

The case centres around claims Lotus based its 2010 car on a wind tunnel model of Force India’s 2009 chassis that had been left in the Aerolab facility.

Lotus said last year that Aerolab “vigorously denies any wrongdoing and has provided Lotus Racing with a full indemnity in relation to the claim”.

Aerolab has also said it is pursuing Force India for “serious and persistent breaches of contract” pre-dating the intellectual property claims.

Force India announced in a media statement on Monday that the high court will hear the intellectual property case beginning 16 January 2012.

The statement also said it believes Gascoyne, Lotus team boss Tony Fernandes and Aerolab’s Jean Claude Migeot “have been formally charged” by Italian authorities.

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