Venturi Racing – its new name – has signed a powertrain deal with Mercedes for the 2019/20 FIA Formula E Championship as it retains Felipe Massa and Edoardo Mortara.
Alongwith changing its name and livery, Venturi announced a deal to have Mercedes powertrain from the 2019/20 Formula E season onward, presenting its new look with the constant team management including the drivers, Massa and Mortara.
The Brazilian and Swiss racer will continue their partnership for the second Formula E season in the running as Susie Wolff leads them in the hope to bring success in the form of race wins and championships.
The agreement will see Mercedes-Benz supply Venturi with cooling system, rear frame, rear suspension, dampers, software, onboard electronics and wiring looms as well as the new powertrain (inverter, motor, rear axle components and energy management software).
Along with HWA Racelab’s and Venturi’s data from 2018/19, Mercedes will have an accelerated learning for their debut Formula E season. The deal also ends Venturi Automobiles direct investment in building powertrains.
Venturi’s Gildo Pastor welcomed the decision, stating: “We are proud to welcome Mercedes-Benz to the Venturi family as our powertrain partner for Season 6. Pairing our experience in high-performing electric vehicles with the racing pedigree of Mercedes is a significant step towards strengthening our position in a racing formula that is becoming ever more competitive.
“We’re all excited about this new era for the team and I’m confident this will be the start of a great journey with our new colleagues in Stuttgart and Brixworth. Another great source of pride for the team lies in our driver lineup which remains unchanged for the coming season.
“We look forward to building upon the skill, experience and speed of Felipe Massa and Edoardo Mortara – two incredibly talented and determined drivers. I can’t wait to see those five red lights go out in Diriyah this coming November, signalling the start of what I’m sure will be a successful collaboration between Venturi and Mercedes-Benz.”
At the same time, Wolff added: “This development marks a significant step forward for the team and, with my longstanding relationship with Mercedes-Benz, I feel very confident that we will enjoy a strong working partnership with our new powertrain suppliers.
“We made good progress in Season 5 but our plans for Season 6 are even more ambitious and we are doing everything within our power to make sure that we are as competitive as possible before we head to Saudi Arabia for the season opener.
On Mercedes side, its new team principal Ian James stated: “We are delighted to welcome Venturi Racing to the Mercedes family ahead of our first Formula E season. At Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains, we have accumulated a huge amount of knowledge in the field of high-performance electrified power units over the past few years, which will not only benefit our new Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team but also Venturi Racing.
“Running four cars on track in our debut season will accelerate our progress towards the ultimate goal of fighting for race wins.” And finally, Mercedes-AMG High Performance’s Andy Cowell added: “We are taking the expertise we’ve built up over the last decade and applying it to the new challenge of Formula E.
“Working together with Venturi Racing, we will be able to increase our rate of learning in our debut season, and what’s more, with a well-established team, who have been part of the series since the very first year. The lessons learned and the technologies we are working on at the race track will also be incorporated into the development of road-going vehicles over time, so the entire Mercedes-Benz family will benefit as a result.”
2019/20 Formula E line-up so far:
Audi: Lucas di Grassi & Daniel Abt
DS Techeetah: Jean-Eric Vergne & Antonio Felix da Costa
Porsche: Neel Jani & Andre Lotterer
GEOX Dragon: Brendon Hartley & Nico Muller
Nissan e.Dams: Sebastien Buemi & Oliver Rowland
BMW Andretti: Maximilian Gunther
Mercedes: Stoffel Vandoorne & Nyck de Vries
Jaguar Racing: Mitch Evans & James Calado
Venturi Racing: Felipe Massa & Edoardo Mortara
Jaguar signs Calado as the 2019/20 Formula E car is also revealed