Virgin launches car, Frijns makes Formula E return
Virgin Racing launched its Gen2 car for the 2018/19 Formula E season, which features an Audi powertrain, at its base at Silverstone.
Virgin recently announced it would become an Audi customer team, after DS split with the British outfit to join Techeetah, meaning the team lost its 15 days of private testing.
Audi launched its e-tron FE05 on Thursday, featuring 95 per cent new parts with the overall package now 10 per cent lighter than its predecessor.
The team announced that Robin Frijns would be making a return to the series to partner Sam Bird. The Audi factory driver completed two seasons with Andretti before departing the team at the end of the 2016/17 season.
“I’m very excited to be returning to Formula E with Envision Virgin Racing,” Frijns said.
“It’s great to be joining such a strong team and with the work we’ve already completed, it’s clear we have a very good package.
“We now look ahead to pre-season testing, where we’ll be able to better gauge our on-track performance.”
Frijns replaces Alex Lynn, who made his series debut as a stand-in for Jose Maria Lopez during the 2017 New York event before he was brought in full-time for the following season.
Virgin also revealed that Envision has become the team’s title sponsor. Envision bought a majority share in the team in April, shortly before the departure of Alex Tai as team principal.
“We’re delighted to be collaborating with such an innovative, like-minded and sustainability-focused company like Envision Group,” said Deputy Team Principal Sylvain Filippi.
“For us, Formula E has always been more than just a racing championship, it’s a chance to be truly innovative and help accelerate change towards a better future.
“As such, we’ve always been passionate about addressing the wider environmental issues and the reasoning behind our Race Against Climate Change programme. Now with Envision Group onboard, we feel we can strengthen this message even further.”
