LONDON: Virgin Racing, owned by China’s Envision Group and British billionaire Richard Branson and one of the most successful teams in the history of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, have announced that global automobile giant Audi will be supplying the team with its e-tron FE05 electric cars as per a multi-year agreement.
Having previously developed an in-house powertrain solution and more recently collaborating with DS Automobiles, the Silverstone-based outfit in the city will become an independent team for the upcoming 2018-2019 season.
Beginning later this year on December 15 in Ad Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, the new season will see the introduction of an all-new car, boasting almost double the energy storage and a 50kw (67bhp here) increase in power.
Sylvain Filippi, Virgin Racing’s MD said: “After four fantastic seasons securing seven wins and 19 podiums, and recently, a successful partnership with DS Automobiles, we have opted to take a new direction for the next generation of Formula E.” “From the outset, it was always the team’s intention to partner with an OEM as Virgin’s core business areas don’t involve the production of automobiles. With Audi Sport together with the drive of our majority team owner Envision, we feel this is the perfect partnership to ensure we continue fighting at the front of the grid.”
Head of Audi Motorsport, Dieter Gass added: “We are glad that in the new Formula E season together with Virgin Racing four Audi e-tron FE05 cars will fight for points and trophies. The team has been one of the key players in Formula E ever since the series was founded – both in terms of its racing performances and all off-track activities. This makes Virgin Racing’s choice of using our powertrain a particular pleasure. This confidence also confirms the excellent work that our engineers are doing together with their colleagues from our development partner Schaeffler.”
Virgin Racing and Envision Group will hold a live launch event on 5 October to unveil the team’s season five car livery, driver line-up and partner announcements.
