Virtuosi Racing
Founded: 2012
Based: Attleborough, Norfolk
Team Principal: Andy Roche
Virtuosi Racing mark an important milestone in 2022 with the addition of a programme in British F4 to complement their existing status as a front-running outfit in FIA Formula 2, the final step on the established road to F1.
Formed in its current guise back in 2012, the Norfolk-based outfit has achieved a number of successes on the single-seater ladder, after first entering the now-defunct Auto GP category, based on the old Italian Formula 3000 championship.
Team owners Paul Devlin had first met Andy Roche when they worked together as engineers at the Formula 3000 team Super Nova in 2004 and with the help of Declan Lohan on the business side, they founded Virtuosi together.
Initially the team were runners-up in the Auto GP teams’ championship in 2014 with Italian Andrea Roda fourth in the drivers’ standings with a soul victory at the Red Bull Ring. In the same year Russian Time won the GP2 teams’ title and with the demise of Auto GP, so began a partnership between Virtuosi and Russian Time, which was run from its Attleborough base in Norfolk.
With funding secured and Artem Markelov heading the driver line-up, the team made steady progress with the Russian scoring his first podium in 2015. Within two years, Markelov had taken six wins in FIA Formula 2 and was pipped to the 2017 title by Charles Leclerc, although Russian Time did clinch the teams’ championship.
With two new drivers - China’s Guanyu Zhou and Italian Luca Ghiotto - the team was renamed UNI-Virtuosi for the 2019 season and with Ghiotto’s four wins they were ranked runners-up in the teams’ standings.
The Attleborough outfit finished in the same place the following season, now with Ferrari’s and Motorsport UK Academy Team UK driver Callum Ilott. Alpine Academy racer Zhou is still in contention for the 2021 championship as F2 nears its final races of the season.
Email: info@virtuosiracing.com
Phone: 01953 788211
