 Virtuosi Racing Invicta Racing | |
| Founded: | 2012 |
| Base: | Attleborough, Norfolk, England |
| Principal: | Andy Roche |
| Founders: | Paul Devlin Andy Roche Declan Lohan |
| Current Series: | FIA Formula 2 Championship F4 British Championship |
| Former Series: | GP2 Series Auto GP |
| Current Drivers: | FIA Formula 2 Championship 9. Kush Maini 10. Gabriel BortoletoF4 British Championship 8. Kai Daryanani 14. Aqil Alibhai 28. Douwe Dedecker |
| Website: | https://www.virtuosiracing.com/ |
Virtuosi Racing (previously known as Virtuosi UK) is a British racing team currently competing in FIA Formula 2 and the F4 British Championship. The team previously raced in the Auto GP series, in addition to running the Russian Time outfit in Formula 2 and its predecessor GP2 Series from 2015 to 2018. With the withdrawal of Russian Time, the team assumed its new name UNI-Virtuosi Racing for the 2019 Formula 2 season. A partnership with watch company Invicta resulted in a further name change from the 2023 season onwards.[1] The Formula 2 operation was again rebranded as Invicta Racing in 2024 after Invicta purchased an ownership stake.[2]
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.[3] The team signed GP2 Series driver Pål Varhaug.[4] His team-mates in the first rounds were 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.[5] [6] 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.[7] [8]
For 2013, the team signed FIA European Formula 3 Championship graduate Andrea Roda.[9] He was partnered by Max Snegirev, who previously raced for Campos Racing. Also British team supported Comtec by Virtuosi entry.[10] 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.[11] Also the team expanded to three cars for two opening rounds, fielding Richard Gonda and Sam Dejonghe.[12] At Imola, second car was occupied by returnee Varhaug but he was replaced at Spielberg by Tamás Pál Kiss, who left Zele Racing.[13] [14] Also at Spielberg Roda won a reverse-grid race, it was first win for Virtuosi since 2012.[15] Kiss collected another two wins for the team at Nürburgring and Estoril.[16] [17] The team finished as runner-up in the teams' standings.
In 2015, the team signed German Formula Three driver Nikita Zlobin.[18] In addition the team replaced iSport International in the managing of the Russian Time team in the GP2 Series.[19]
On 4 December 2018, it was announced Virtuosi would replace the outgoing Russian Time outfit in the FIA Formula 2 Championship in under the name UNI-Virtuosi.[20] The following day, the team confirmed Guanyu Zhou as its first driver.[21] The next day Luca Ghiotto filled the remained slot in the Virtuosi's line-up.[22] The team finished in second place in the Teams' Championship its first season as Virtuosi, with Ghiotto taking four wins.
For the team retained Zhou as its first driver, whilst replacing the outgoing Ghiotto with Callum Ilott.[23] The team repeated its runners-up finish in Teams' Championship from the previous year, again with four wins.
In, Zhou was once again retained by the team, this time joined by Felipe Drugovich in the other car.[24] For the third year in a row the team finished in second place in the Teams' Championship, once again with four wins, all scored by Zhou. On 20 October, Virtuosi Racing announced its expansion to Formula 4 racing by entering the F4 British Championship from the 2022 season onwards.[25]
With Zhou graduating to Formula 1 in with Alfa Romeo, his seat was filled by Jack Doohan, with Marino Sato replacing Drugovich.[26] Despite Doohan taking three wins in his rookie season the team could only finish in seventh place in the Teams' Championship.
The season saw Doohan remain with the team, this time joined by Belgian Amaury Cordeel.[27]
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | Podiums | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallara F2 2018 | Mecachrome V634T V6 t | align=left |  Zhou Guanyu | 22 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7th | 140 | 2nd | 347 | ||
| align=left |  Luca Ghiotto | 22 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 3rd | 207 | ||||||
| Dallara F2 2018 | Mecachrome V634T V6 t | align=left | Zhou Guanyu | 24 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 6th | 151.5 | 2nd | 352.5 | ||
| align=left | Callum Ilott | 24 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 2nd | 201 | ||||||
| 2021 | Dallara F2 2018 | Mecachrome V634T V6 t | align=left | Zhou Guanyu | 22 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 3rd | 183 | 2nd | 288 | |
| align=left | Felipe Drugovich | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8th | 105 | ||||||
| 2022 | Dallara F2 2018 | Mecachrome V634T V6 t | align=left |  Jack Doohan | 28 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 6th | 128 | 7th | 134 | |
| align=left |  Marino Sato | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22nd | 6 | ||||||
| 2023 | Dallara F2 2018 | Mecachrome V634T V6 t | align=left | Jack Doohan | 25 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3rd | 168 | 5th | 176 | |
| align=left | Amaury Cordeel | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20th | 8 | ||||||
| 2024 | Dallara F2 2024 | Mecachrome V634T V6 t | align=left | Kush Maini | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9th | 74 | 2nd* | 203* | |
| align=left | Gabriel Bortoleto | 20 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2nd | 129 |
(key)
* Season still in progress.
| Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Tatuus F4-T421 | Michael Shin | 30 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 87 | 11th | 5th |
| Edward Pearson | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 81 | 12th | |||
| 2023 | Tatuus F4-T421 | Aqil Alibhai | 30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 169 | 8th | 6th |
| Douwe Dedecker | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 21st | |||
| Kai Daryanani | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 24th | |||
| 2024 | Tatuus F4-T421 | Maxwell Dodds | |||||||
 Martin Molnár | |||||||||
| Yuhao Fu |
| Current series | ||
|---|---|---|
| FIA Formula 2 Championship | 2017–present | |
| F4 British Championship | 2022–present | |
| Former series | ||
| 2012–2015 | ||
| 2015–2016 | ||