Newey and Vergne launch Extreme E team

Reigning Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne and Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey have teamed up to launch Veloce Racing Extreme E team.

Veloce Racing, sister team to the eSports organisation Vergne founded, is the fourth team to be confirmed for the off-road electric vehicle series, which begins February 2021.

The squad’s management team is made up of Veloce Esports founders Rupert Svendsen-Cook, Jack Clarke, and Vergne, MPA CEO Daniel Bailey, and Adrien and Harrison Newey. Darryl Eales and Andy Webb, former Marussia CEO, join the team as co-chairs.

“Today marks another great step for Veloce,” said Vergne. “I have always believed in the vision of Alejandro Agag and I strongly believe in the success of Extreme E.

“For me, it was clear I had to be involved since I first saw the concept. Together with my other co-founders, we have worked incredibly hard to make this happen. We plan to be disruptive in our approach as we drive awareness of climate change.”

Despite having two drivers in the managerial line-up, Veloce is yet to announce its drivers for the first season. It can choose from Extreme E’s Driver Programme, which includes Vergne’s former Techeetah team-mate Andre Lotterer, but also have free reign to choose from outside the pool.

Harrison Newey joins the team as Business Development Director, while father Adrian is the “lead visionary”.

“The series is an exceptional platform for drawing attention to the environmental challenges and driving change,” said Newey Snr. “Veloce will play an active role in as many of Extreme E’s legacy projects as possible to help regenerate the local environments.

“We also believe that hydrogen is a fuel source to be seriously considered for the future and we will take great pride in playing our part in encouraging Extreme E to adopt hydrogen in its next generation Extreme E SUVs.

“The media model is in line with modern consumption and the content will be the exciting blend of live racing and documentaries to coverage audiences in an unprecedented manner.

“Everyone involved in Veloce Racing is extremely passionate about racing, competition, and cutting-edge technology, as well as tackling environmental issues that face the world today, so we couldn’t be happier to be taking part in Extreme E – we can’t wait to get started!”