McLaren Applied is to provide technical support for two Formula Student (FS) racing teams, Joanneum Racing and TU Graz Racing, affiliated with Fachhochschule Joanneum Graz and Technische Universität Graz.
This year’s FS competition took place on July 25-29 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. It was Joanneum Racing’s final season with a combustion engine, and the team scored highly in several events, achieving third place overall. TU Graz Racing was competing in its inaugural race with a newly designed electric powertrain. The team managed to participate in the dynamic events but unfortunately experienced issues with the car during its runs.
McLaren Applied says it chose to support the two teams due to their advancements in the educational and racing aspects of the respective programs and consistently high performance in FS events, having been highly successful in racing several generations of their conventional powertrains. Both teams have now decided to focus on electric powertrains, which is a core area of competence for McLaren Applied.
Matthias Dank, director of motorsport at McLaren Applied, said, “At McLaren Applied, it’s important for us to support the next generation of technical talent to enter the competitive world of motorsport. Motorsport has several feeder series to bring driver talent into the premium leagues of professional racing; however, there are fewer routes to encourage engineers and technicians into the sport. The past years have shown that Formula Student is one of the key stepping stones for young engineers and technicians to follow their ambitions and enter motorsport. We are so pleased to introduce technical support for two Formula Student teams, Joanneum Racing and TU Graz Racing. We are very excited to be part of that process and support with our hardware, tools and software.”
