DS Virgin Racing is determined to show what it can do in Marrakesh, after missing the opportunity to win the season-opener in Hong Kong.

DS Virgin Racing is determined to show what it can do in Marrakesh, after missing the opportunity to win the season-opener in Hong Kong. For the team, round two is all about capitalising on the undoubted pace of the car and drivers to get points on the board.

Despite both cars qualifying on the second row of the grid in Hong Kong, DS Virgin Racing came away without scoring any points in the opening race of the 2016-17 Formula E season. The team is focused on rectifying this at the second round of the championship, as Formula E makes its debut in Africa at the Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan.

Marrakesh is a track of significance to DS Virgin Racing, both to its drivers and engineers. “I’ve raced and won here three times before with the WTCC,” explains José María López. “It was a touch narrow. But then again, a Formula E car takes up less room than a WTCC car, so it should be a good fight.”

The team’s engineers have a history of racing and winning in Marrakesh and are confident this will give them an advantage. DS Virgin Racing’s track simulator testing has also revealed that the top achievable speed for a Formula E car is 210 km/h, faster than the WTCC’s 205 km/h.

The track is a dramatic departure from Hong Kong – twelve turns to Hong Kong’s nine and over half a kilometre longer. As the longest track on the Formula E calendar, the challenge for Marrakesh will be tactical battery preservation – something that Sam Bird displayed masterfully during Hong Kong, leading the pack for several laps before the car change.

This weekend’s Marrakesh ePrix coincides with the COP22 Summit: a meeting of the world’s leaders on sustainability and climate change. In tandem, DS Virgin Racing will be hosting an Innovation Summit in front of the team garage on 10 November, featuring international panellists discussing EVs and sustainable technology.

“We’ve gone to space, we’ve done biofuel flight and we were the first to go non-stop solo around the world. Virgin is all about making sustainability fast," states Team Principal Alex Tai. 

Pechito and Sam Bird arrive in Marrakesh with a point to prove after Hong Kong. “As far as I’m concerned, this is race one now. Let’s put points on the board,” explains Sam Bird.

Jean-Éric Vergne secured his first points for DS Virgin Racing at the FIA Formula E Punta del Este ePrix.

Jean-Éric Vergne secured his first points for DS Virgin Racing as he claimed a valuable six points at the FIA Formula E Punta del Este ePrix.

Starting at the back of the grid after a hard qualifying session, which saw him blocked in sector three, the Frenchman made up ground on those ahead of him and headed into the halfway stage of the race having made up five places. 

After successfully winning the Fanboost vote, the 25-year old was able to use the extra 100KJ of power gained, following the changeover, to overtake Stephane Sarrazin on lap 26 and set his sights on Nelson Piquet Jr.

A scintillating battle developed over the final half a dozen laps as Vergne went wheel-to-wheel with the Brazilian, before forcing a mistake to overtake on the penultimate lap. 

With Daniel Abt now in his sights, Vergne and his DSV-01 made up another position on the final lap to secure his first points finish with DS Virgin Racing.

Earlier in the race, having started from third on the grid, Sam Bird was looking like he would again be a contender for a strong points finish, quickly overtaking Loic Duval going into the first corner. A battery issue however after the changeover on Lap 19 saw his race cut short.

Like Vergne, the Briton also won Fanboost – the second time in three races this season and the first time in Formula E that both DS Virgin Racing drivers have been rewarded with the extra fan power.

Speaking about his race, Vergne said: “I’m really pleased with my race and don’t think it could have gone much better after starting at the back of the grid. I drove hard and had a lot of fun with what was in front of me. It was a great effort from the team. I’d also like to say a special thank you to all the fans that helped me win Fanboost, which made a real difference during the race.”

Bird was also positive about his performance: “In the first half of the race, things felt really good and it was going really well. We showed a good turn of pace and I think there’s lots of positive signs to suggest that we can be challenging again in Buenos Aires. Like in Malaysia, I must give a lot of credit to the team, who put in a huge amount of work to repair the car between free practice one and the race after I hit the wall.”

DS Virgin Racing Team Principal, Alex Tai, added: “JEV drove a great race out there and we’re delighted that he’s got his first points for the team. We’ve shown good pace again this weekend and proved that we can be competing for big points. I must also thank the fans for their fantastic support that we’ve received here in Punta and say thank you to everyone that voted for our drivers in Fanboost.”

The team now head straight into a day of testing in Punta, before moving on to Buenos Aires for Round Four of the FIA Formula E Championship on 6 February 2016.

FIA Formula E Championship 2015-16 – Driver Standings

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Points
1	9	Sébastien BUEMI	Renault e.Dams	62
2	11	Lucas DI GRASSI	ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport	61
3	7	Jérôme D’AMBROSIO	Dragon Racing	28
4	2	SAM BIRD	DS VIRGIN RACING FORMULA E TEAM	24
5	6	Loïc DUVAL	Dragon Racing	24
6	23	Nick HEIDFELD	Mahindra Racing Formula E Team	17
7	27	Robin FRIJNS	Andretti Formula E Race Team	17
8	4	Stéphane SARRAZIN	Venturi Formula E Team	16
9	55	Antonio FELIX DA COSTA	Team Aguri	16
10	8	Nicolas PROST	Renault e.Dams	11
11	21	Bruno SENNA	Mahindra Racing Formula E Team	10
12	66	Daniel ABT	ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport	10
13	88	Oliver TURVEY	NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team	8
14	25	JEAN-ERIC VERGNE	DS VIRGIN RACING FORMULA E TEAM	6
15	77	Nathanaël BERTHON	Team Aguri	4
16	1	Nelson PIQUET JR	NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team	4
17	28	Simona DE SILVESTRO	Andretti Formula E Race Team	0
18	12	Jacques VILLENEUVE	Venturi Formula E Team	0
19	23	Oliver ROWLAND	Mahindra Racing Formula E Team	0

FIA Formula E Championship 2015-16 – Team Standings

Pos	Team	Points
1	Renault e.Dams	73
2	ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport	71
3	Dragon Racing	52
4	DS VIRGIN RACING FORMULA E TEAM	30
5	Mahindra Racing Formula E Team	27
6	Team Aguri	20
7	Andretti Formula E Race Team	17
8	Venturi Formula E Team	16
9	NEXTEV TCR Formula E Team	12

DS Formula E racing team to try to continue season two the way it finished season one.

DS Virgin Racing will take to the streets of Beijing next weekend with a new driver line-up, new partners, a new powertrain and plenty of momentum.

The FIA Formula E Championship returns for a second season in Beijing on 24 October and the DS Virgin Racing team will be looking to continue where they left off at the end of season one.

Back in June, home favourite Sam Bird stormed to a win in the final round in London. The British driver will be looking to build on a promising first season – which also saw him pick up a win in Malaysia – alongside new recruit, Frenchman Jean-Éric Vergne.

With the arrival of the DS brand, the race car also has a new look for season two. Combining the DS and Virgin brand identities, the new design represents a dynamic integration of both the DS Automobiles and Virgin colour schemes, and maintains the distinctive red and chrome features from season one. The DS brand logo now appears proudly on each side of the car on a black background, alongside fellow partner Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The battery cover remains purple as in season one.

It is not just the outside of the car that is different. Changes to the technical regulations have enabled teams, including DS Virgin Racing, to develop their own electric powertrains for season two. The team has chosen to re-design its powertrain significantly in order to increase efficiency – and in order to account for the increase in race power allowed in season two, which rises from 150kW to 170kW. This package was tested extensively in the pre-season and proved to be reliable, but it is difficult to predict how it will stand up versus the competition until all of the teams hit the streets in Beijing.

Additional changes to Fanboost, meanwhile, will give fans the chance to vote for Sam and Jean-Éric until six minutes into the race, providing a power boost of 100kJ of additional energy that can be used during the rest of the race.

Speaking ahead of the season opener, Sam Bird said; “To finish last season the way we did in London was really special, so I’m hoping that we can build on that and come into the new season with the same impetus.   It was a great feeling to get on the podium in Beijing last year and I’ll be looking to go one, or hopefully two better this time around!”

Jean-Éric Vergne said; “I’m very excited to have joined DS Virgin Racing and I’m looking forward to getting things off to a positive start in Beijing. I didn’t race here last year so it will be interesting to get out on the track and experience another unique street circuit.”

Alex Tai, DS Virgin Racing Team Principal, said; “It is unbelievable how quickly a year goes by. This time last year, we entered into the relatively unknown world of electric racing, during the first season we learned a great deal and have developed strongly as a race team. I believe we have brought great talent into the team both on and off the track and adding this to the experience learned in the first year I feel confident we will deliver a strong performance in the coming season starting right here in Beijing.

Yves Bonnefont, CEO of the DS Brand, said; “Following the announcement of our new partnership with Virgin Racing in June, it has been an exciting few months for the DS brand working towards our first race in Beijing. Having recently marked our 60^th anniversary, it would be fantastic to celebrate this special landmark with a race to remember, particularly in China which is a very important market for us.”