Virtuosi Racing

Virtuosi Racing
Founded	2012
Founder(s)	Paul Devlin; Andy Roche
Base	Attleborough, Norfolk, England
Team principal(s)	Andy Roche
Current series	FIA Formula 2 Championship; F4 British Championship
Former series	GP2 Series; Auto GP
Current drivers	FIA Formula 2 Championship; 14. Jack Doohan; 15. Amaury Cordeel; F4 British Championship; 8. Kai Daryanani; 14. Aqil Alibhai; 28. Douwe Dedecker
Website	https://www.virtuosiracing.com/

Virtuosi Racing (previously known as Virtuosi UK, and Invicta Virtuosi in Formula 2) is a British racing team currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. The team previously ran in the Auto GP series, in addition to running the Russian Time outfit in Formula 2 and its predecessor GP2 Series up until 2018. With the withdrawal of Russian Time, the team assumed its new name UNI Virtuosi Racing for the 2019 Formula 2 season. Sponsorship from watch company Invicta resulted in a name change from the 2023 season onwards

History

In 2012, Paul Devlin and Andy Roche approached businessman Declan Lohan for financial backing and Virtuosi UK team was founded at Carleton Rode, Norfolk in order to participate in the Auto GP.[1] The team signed GP2 Series driver Pål Varhaug.[2] His team-mates in the first rounds was European F3 Open driver Matteo Beretta and Formula Renault 3.5 Series driver Sten Pentus, before they was replaced by Auto GP veteran Francesco Dracone.[3][4] Varhaug won feature race at Sonoma and reverse-grid races at Monza and Hungaroring, finishing as runner-up in the drivers' standings and bringing fourth place in the teams' standings.[5][6]

For 2013, the team signed FIA European Formula 3 Championship graduate Andrea Roda.[7] He was partnered by Max Snegirev, who previously raced for Campos Racing. Also British team supported Comtec by Virtuosi entry.[8] Unlike the previous season Virtuosi drivers even failed to achieve podium finish and downgraded to seventh in the teams' standings.

The squad prolonged Andrea Roda for 2014 campaign.[9] Also the team expanded to three cars for two opening rounds, fielding Richard Gonda and Sam Dejonghe.[10] At Imola, second car was occupied by returnee Varhaug but he was replaced at Spielberg by Tamás Pál Kiss, who left Zele Racing.[11][12] Also at Spielberg Roda won a reverse-grid race, it was first win for Virtuosi since 2012.[13] Kiss collected another two wins for the team at Nürburgring and Estoril.[14][15] The team finished as runner-up in the teams' standings.

In 2015, the team signed German Formula Three driver Nikita Zlobin.[16] As well the team will replace iSport International in the managing of the Russian Time team in the GP2 Series.[17]

On 4 December 2018, it was announced Virtuosi would replace the outgoing Russian Time outfit in the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2019 under the name UNI-Virtuosi.[18] The following day, the team confirmed Guanyu Zhou as its first driver.[19] Day after, Luca Ghiotto filled the remained slot in the Virtuosi's line-up.[20]

On 20 October 2021, Virtuosi Racing announced its expansion to Formula 4 racing by entering the F4 British Championship from the 2022 season onwards.[21]

Current series results

FIA Formula 2 Championship

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F. Laps	Podiums	D.C.	Pts	T.C.	Pts
2019	Dallara F2 2018	Mecachrome V634T V6 t	P	Zhou Guanyu	22	0	1	2	5	7th	140	2nd	347
2019	Dallara F2 2018	Mecachrome V634T V6 t	P	Luca Ghiotto	22	4	2	2	9	3rd	207	2nd	347
2020	Dallara F2 2018	Mecachrome V634T V6 t	P	Zhou Guanyu	24	1	1	4	6	6th	151.5	2nd	352.5
2020	Dallara F2 2018	Mecachrome V634T V6 t	P	Callum Ilott	24	3	5	0	6	2nd	201	2nd	352.5
2021	Dallara F2 2018	Mecachrome V634T V6 t	P	Zhou Guanyu	22	4	1	1	9	3rd	183	2nd	288
2021	Dallara F2 2018	Mecachrome V634T V6 t	P	Felipe Drugovich	21	0	0	0	4	8th	105	2nd	288
2022	Dallara F2 2018	Mecachrome V634T V6 t	P	Jack Doohan	28	3	3	4	6	6th	128	7th	134
2022	Dallara F2 2018	Mecachrome V634T V6 t	P	Marino Sato	28	0	0	0	0	22nd	6	7th	134
2023	Dallara F2 2018	Mecachrome V634T V6 t	P	Jack Doohan	23	2	1	3	4	4th	138	6th*	146*
2023	Dallara F2 2018	Mecachrome V634T V6 t	P	Amaury Cordeel	24	0	0	0	0	20th	8	6th*	146*

In detail

(key)

Year	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	T.C.	Points
2019		BHR FEA	BHR SPR	BAK FEA	BAK SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MCO FEA	MCO SPR	LEC FEA	LEC SPR	RBR FEA	RBR SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SOC FEA	SOC SPR	YMC FEA	YMC SPR					2nd	347
	Zhou Guanyu	10^F	4	Ret	10	3	4	5	3	4	3	6	8	3^P	8	9	9	C	C	Ret	4	10	5	3^F	8
	Luca Ghiotto	2^P	1	9	Ret^F	4^P	2	DSQ	Ret	Ret	12	2	2	1	15	4	8	C	C	2	15	4^F	1	6	1
2020		RBR FEA	RBR SPR	RBR FEA	RBR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	MUG FEA	MUG SPR	SOC FEA	SOC SPR	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	BHR FEA	BHR SPR					2nd	352.5
	Zhou Guanyu	17^{P F}	14	3	4	10	8^F	2^F	9	9	7	3	14	7	3	5	NC	Ret^F	5	8	1	14	5	2	4
	Callum Ilott	1	9	5	5	8^P	2	5	Ret	1^P	6	5^P	8	10	Ret	6^P	1	12	6	3	7	2^P	16	5	10
2021		BHR SP1	BHR SP2	BHR FEA	MCO SP1	MCO SP2	MCO FEA	BAK SP1	BAK SP2	BAK FEA	SIL SP1	SIL SP2	SIL FEA	MNZ SP1	MNZ SP2	MNZ FEA	SOC SP1	SOC SP2	SOC FEA	JED SP1	JED SP2	JED FEA	YMC SP1	YMC SP2	YMC FEA					2nd	288
	Zhou Guanyu	7	3	1^P	1	15	5^F	3	Ret	13	Ret	11	1	2	8	2	DNS	C	6	17	8	4	8	1	2
	Felipe Drugovich	16	14	9	2	14	3	14	10	4	4	7	6	Ret	17	13	DNS	C	DNS	4	10	5	2	5	3
2022		BHR SPR	BHR FEA	JED SPR	JED FEA	IMO SPR	IMO FEA	CAT SPR	CAT FEA	MCO SPR	MCO FEA	BAK SPR	BAK FEA	SIL SPR	SIL FEA	RBR SPR	RBR FEA	LEC SPR	LEC FEA	HUN SPR	HUN FEA	SPA SPR	SPA FEA	ZAN SPR	ZAN FEA	MNZ SPR	MNZ FEA	YMC SPR	YMC FEA	7th	134
	Jack Doohan	10	10^P	Ret	9^F	11	Ret	6	2^{P F}	7^F	4	11	13	1	9	3	19^F	4	5	1	Ret	2	1	9	Ret	6	Ret^P	7	Ret
	Marino Sato	16	11	8	17	16	11	17	19	15	10	17^†	8	Ret	15	Ret	16	9	Ret	15	15	12	15	19	Ret	11	11	19	15
2023		BHR SPR	BHR FEA	JED SPR	JED FEA	ALB SPR	ALB FEA	BAK SPR	BAK FEA	MCO SPR	MCO FEA	CAT SPR	CAT FEA	RBR SPR	RBR FEA	SIL SPR	SIL FEA	HUN SPR	HUN FEA	SPA SPR	SPA FEA	ZAN SPR	ZAN FEA	MNZ SPR	MNZ FEA	YMC SPR	YMC FEA			6th*	146*
	Jack Doohan	11	16	7	2	Ret	8	17^†	15	6^F	Ret	5	6	7	4	3	4	10	1^{P F}	5	1^F	6	DNS	9	6
	Amaury Cordeel	21	15	19	20	12	13	9	19	Ret	NC	17	19	15	17	16	Ret	19	21	Ret	15	16	8	Ret	8

* Season still in progress.

F4 British Championship

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	F/Laps	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2022	Tatuus F4-T421	Michael Shin	30	1	1	87	11th	5th
2022	Tatuus F4-T421	Edward Pearson	30	0	0	81	12th	5th
2023	Tatuus F4-T421	Aqil Alibhai	30	1	0	169	8th	6th
		Douwe Dedecker	30	0	0	26	21st
		Kai Daryanani	29	0	0	8	24th

Timeline

Current series
FIA Formula 2 Championship	2017–present
F4 British Championship	2022–present
Former series
Auto GP	2012–2015
GP2 Series	2015–2016

Notes

References

"The Team". Virtuosi Racing. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
Rubino, Jacopo (5 March 2012). "Pal Varhaug nel primo round di Monza con il team Virtuosi UK" [Pal Varhaug in first round at Monza for team Virtuosi UK]. stopandgo.tv (in Italian). Stop&Go. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
"Pentus joins the Series with Virtuosi UK". Auto GP World Series. Auto GP Organization. 27 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
Mills, Peter (13 April 2012). "Sergio Campana leads Marrakech Auto GP practice". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 13 April 2012. Norwegian Varhaug has a new team-mate at Virtuosi UK this weekend. Former Euro Series 3000 veteran and IndyCar starter Franceso Dracone replaces Formula Renault 3.5 race winner Sten Pentus.
"Varhaug clinches Race 2 win in Monza". Auto GP World Series. Auto GP Organisation. 11 March 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
Mills, Peter (6 May 2012). "Paul Varhaug beats Adrian Quaife-Hobbs to win second Hungaroring Auto GP race". Autosport. Haymarket. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
"Virtuosi signs Andrea Roda for Auto GP". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
Mills, Peter (5 August 2013). "Virtuosi to support new Comtec entry in Auto GP". Autosport. Haymarket. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
Khorounzhiy, Valentin (27 January 2014). "Roda stays with Virtuosi for 2014 Auto GP campaign". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
"Auto GP set for opener at Marrakech". Auto GP. Auto GP Organisation. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
"@varhaug: 26 June". Twitter. Twitter Inc. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
"@VirtuosiRacing: 16 July". Twitter. Twitter Inc. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
Watkins, Gary (20 July 2014). "Red Bull Ring Auto GP: Roda takes first win in Virtuosi one-two". Autosport. Haymarket. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
David, Gruz (17 August 2014). "Kiss wins as Sato is crowned Auto GP champion". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
Allen, Peter (19 October 2014). "Kiss wins first Estoril Auto GP race to secure runner-up spot". Retrieved 18 March 2015.
Hensby, Paul (27 February 2015). "Virtuosi sign Nikita Zlobin for 2015 Auto GP season". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
Mills, Peter (18 March 2015). "Virtuosi to run Russian Time GP2 team". uk.eurosport.yahoo.com. Eurosport. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
"UNI-VIRTUOSI RACING REPLACE RUSSIAN TIME". 4 December 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
Allen, Peter (5 December 2018). "Guan Yu Zhou steps up to F2 with UNI-Virtuosi". formulascout.com. Formula Scout. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
Horton, Phillip (6 December 2018). "Luca Ghiotto completes UNI-Virtuosi's F2 driver line-up". motorsportweek.com. Motorsport Media Services. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
"Virtuosi Racing to enter FIA British F4 in 2022". Virtuosi Racing. 20 October 2021. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2022.

External links

Official website

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "The Team". Virtuosi Racing. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[2] Rubino, Jacopo (5 March 2012). "Pal Varhaug nel primo round di Monza con il team Virtuosi UK" [Pal Varhaug in first round at Monza for team Virtuosi UK]. stopandgo.tv (in Italian). Stop&Go. Retrieved 5 March 2012.

[3] "Pentus joins the Series with Virtuosi UK". Auto GP World Series. Auto GP Organization. 27 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.

[4] Mills, Peter (13 April 2012). "Sergio Campana leads Marrakech Auto GP practice". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 13 April 2012. Norwegian Varhaug has a new team-mate at Virtuosi UK this weekend. Former Euro Series 3000 veteran and IndyCar starter Franceso Dracone replaces Formula Renault 3.5 race winner Sten Pentus.

[5] "Varhaug clinches Race 2 win in Monza". Auto GP World Series. Auto GP Organisation. 11 March 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[6] Mills, Peter (6 May 2012). "Paul Varhaug beats Adrian Quaife-Hobbs to win second Hungaroring Auto GP race". Autosport. Haymarket. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[7] "Virtuosi signs Andrea Roda for Auto GP". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.

[8] Mills, Peter (5 August 2013). "Virtuosi to support new Comtec entry in Auto GP". Autosport. Haymarket. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[9] Khorounzhiy, Valentin (27 January 2014). "Roda stays with Virtuosi for 2014 Auto GP campaign". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 27 January 2014.

[10] "Auto GP set for opener at Marrakech". Auto GP. Auto GP Organisation. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[11] "@varhaug: 26 June". Twitter. Twitter Inc. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.

[12] "@VirtuosiRacing: 16 July". Twitter. Twitter Inc. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.

[13] Watkins, Gary (20 July 2014). "Red Bull Ring Auto GP: Roda takes first win in Virtuosi one-two". Autosport. Haymarket. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[14] David, Gruz (17 August 2014). "Kiss wins as Sato is crowned Auto GP champion". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[15] Allen, Peter (19 October 2014). "Kiss wins first Estoril Auto GP race to secure runner-up spot". Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[16] Hensby, Paul (27 February 2015). "Virtuosi sign Nikita Zlobin for 2015 Auto GP season". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[17] Mills, Peter (18 March 2015). "Virtuosi to run Russian Time GP2 team". uk.eurosport.yahoo.com. Eurosport. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[18] "UNI-VIRTUOSI RACING REPLACE RUSSIAN TIME". 4 December 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.

[Zhou-19] Allen, Peter (5 December 2018). "Guan Yu Zhou steps up to F2 with UNI-Virtuosi". formulascout.com. Formula Scout. Retrieved 5 December 2018.

[Ghiotto-20] Horton, Phillip (6 December 2018). "Luca Ghiotto completes UNI-Virtuosi's F2 driver line-up". motorsportweek.com. Motorsport Media Services. Retrieved 6 December 2018.

[21] "Virtuosi Racing to enter FIA British F4 in 2022". Virtuosi Racing. 20 October 2021. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2022.