Kovalainen is focused on moving up the grid this weekend

Lotus Racing hope an upgraded rear wing will improve their car's performance at the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend.

Both Heikki Kovalainen and team-mate Jarno Trulli have failed to finish a race in the top 12 this season.

But the team's first major upgrades in Barcelona saw more than a second shaved off their lap times.

Driver Heikki Kovalainen told BBC Radio Norfolk: "It will make a significant difference and will hopefully give us more downforce."

As well as the new rear wing, Lotus will also be running new aerodynamic and mechanical parts on their cars.

"The rear wing's lighter so we can move the balance forward in the car and it should help us in the faster corners," Kovalainen said.

"Hopefully we will keep making improvements in every race."

After starting 21st and 20th for the Chinese and Spanish Grands Prix, Kovalainen qualified in 16th in Monaco but both Lotus cars failed to finish the race.

"For me Monaco was not a disappointment - if anything it was encouraging," Kovalainen added.

"The performance was much better than in any other race. We are really starting to push the cars ahead of us.

"We are moving forward in much bigger steps than I thought we would and the fact that we didn't finish the race with both cars is not a big deal."

The Finnish driver is confident that if the team continues improving, it will not be long before they start competing with the successful teams.

"We are still learning and we are still growing, we will keep working hard and it will pay us back one day," he said.

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