Jan.19 (GMM) Fairuz Fauzy will be reserve driver at the Renault team in 2011.

The 28-year-old Malaysian left the same role at Lotus Racing just one year into a five-year contract, raising suggestions the deal was tied in with the team's official naming license.

Indeed, after revoking Lotus Racing's name license, Group Lotus and its Malaysian carmaker owner Proton signed up with Renault, which is now called Lotus Renault GP.

Fauzy will also race in 2011 with the GP2 team Super Nova, whose cars will feature significant Proton branding.

"We will focus on Fairuz's progress and evaluate his capabilities to be a race driver for us," Renault team boss Eric Boullier said, according to the Bernama news agency.

Group Lotus will also be involved in GP2 this year with the newly-renamed Lotus ART team.

A French commentator said last week that he expected Romain Grosjean to be Renault's third driver in 2011.

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