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May 22nd
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Lotus and Manor join FOTA coven

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The increasingly-bloated Formula One Teams' Association have accepted the applications of new teams Manor Grand Prix and Lotus into their ranks, meaning that the FOTA round table now features all thirteen of the 2010 teams.

The FOTA organisation, most famous for kicking it's feet over the summer of 2009 when the FIA introduced the idea of budget capped teams from 2010 into the regulations, ratified the applications from the two teams in a dullard meeting earlier this week.

According to Autosport, 'sources' within FOTA have confirmed that the association accepted the Manor and Lotus team applications, meaning that they join their fellow newcomers Campos Meta and USF1 in the group.

The FOTA team count actually stands at 14 for the time being, with Toyota still ostensibly a member despite withdrawing from F1 at the end of the 2009 season.

Also confirmed in the exciting meeting were the plans to elect new chairmen to head the association set for next month, as the period of Luca di Montezemolo and Toyota's John Howett as leaders comes to an end.

Earlier this month, di Montezemolo confirmed that he would stand down as FOTA chairman after his current mandate expires. He told Autosprint that: "I took up the President role because I felt it was good to have teams competing on the track and talking out of it, like sports professionals - that is what we did.

"However, I have another job and I can't do everything so I really think that I will step down at the end of the year."

The teams also continued their plans to see a common car launch day at the start of the 2010 season, with the plan being to hold a glorious combination of cars having sheets pulled off them by embarrassed-looking drivers at some point before the pre-season test schedule begins, somewhat laughably, in mid-February.

The plan would be to have the teams launch at the same time and in one location in order to further cut down on costs.