Envision Virgin Racing has presented their team ahead of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship 2018/19 season.
Sam Bird and Robin Frijns will be the two drivers for the team, who has changed naming sponsor from DS to Envision.
The loss of DS also means that they had to find a new supplier for the driveline. As announced last month, Audi Sport will provide this to the team.
Photo: Envision Virgin Racing
Sam Bird has been driving for the team in every single race for 5 seasons. He has time and time again been fighting for the medals, but it wasn’t until the 2017/18 season that he won a Bronze medal. He has won races in all 4 seasons so far, but has just been lacking the final bit, in the title fight. Other the than Formula E, he will continue to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship, where he is Ferrari works driver for the AF Corse team.
Robin Frijns returns to Formula E, after one season of sabbatical. He drove for the Amlin Andretti team in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons, who had BMW connections. Those connections ended up being a hindrance for him, since he had one leg in the BMW in Formula E, and the other leg in the Audi camp in the Blancpain GT Series. So he was kind of forced to choose side, which has given him even more work at Audi.
The races in the 2018 DTM series, plus selected Blancpain races. The Audi connection is the deciding factor in his new job at Envision Virgin Racing. That makes Audi have three active drivers in the series, putting a bit extra pressure on their own drivers at Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler – ’cause you don’t want to be beaten by your costumer team.
Photo: Envision Virgin Racing
Sam Bird will continue to race in car #2 while Robin Frijns has opted for #4.
The ABB FIA Formula E Championship 2018/19 starts on 15 December in Ad Diriyah i Saudi Arabia. But first up is the collective tests at Valencia on from 16 to 19 October.
