Leading Formula E team Envision Virgin Racing has completed expansion works on its Silverstone headquarters in the UK, including a new fully operational driver-in-the-loop simulator, engineering platform and conference room.
Virgin first moved its Formula E operations base from Donington Park to a unit in Silverstone Park in 2017 and after significant investment from Envision Group and team owner Lei Zhang has completed works on the 12,000ft2 premises. As well as accommodating more than 25 permanent staff, the base also houses the team’s Audi e-tron FE06 fully-electric race cars, workshop bays, spare parts, engineering offices and multimedia meeting rooms.
The new 2019/2010 Formula E season gets underway on November 22 and 23 with two races held in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, and finishes up in London next summer. It’s set to be the most competitive yet with a capacity grid of 24 drivers and 12 teams going head-to-head across 14 races.
“As an independent team, to have finished third last season was a fantastic achievement,” said Envision Virgin Racing managing director Sylvain Filippi, “but we know the competition will be even tougher this time around, especially with the introduction of new teams and drivers. We know consistency is going to be crucial, so we have put a huge emphasis on this from our driver line-up through to our entire team personnel. We have all the ingredients in place for a really promising season.”
