Stephane Sarrazin will remain with the Venturi team for the 2017 season

It has been announced this afternoon that Stephane Sarrazin will remain with the Venturi team for a third season and believes the outfit can challenge the established manufacturers in the 2016/17 campaign.

Sarrazin finished sixth in 2015/16 FE drivers’ championship, scoring his and the team’s first podium in Long Beach. He was also the only person other than champion Sebastien Buemi to score points in every event.

This afternoon Sarrazin confirmed in an interview with Autosport that he had signed to stay with Venturi next season and said big changes to its powertrain, including “a completely different gearbox”, would cut the gap to the likes of Renault e.dams and Abt Audi Sport. Sarrazin stated the following:-

“I hope for more than this season. We didn’t do the big step like the others this season – like the gearbox, having four gears when most teams have two, and being very heavy, 24kg over the weight limit.

“That’s massive. Next season it should be much better. I think, and I hope, we can catch the top teams.”

While Venturi Automobiles is a manufacturer in its own right that specializes in electric vehicles and the pursuit of EV land-speed records, Sarrazin said it “started from zero” when it joined FE.

Venturi finished ninth of 10 entries in the inaugural FE teams’ championship but improved to sixth in what Sarrazin called a “great” second campaign.

It has continued its partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies in the development of its second powertrain, with McLaren being responsible for the electric motor and the motor control unit.

Sarrazin has participated in the team’s behind-closed-doors testing of its VM200-FE-02 and the Toyota LMP1 driver said further on in his interview with Autosport this afternoon that he was encouraged by its progress. Sarrazin added the following:-

“After Le Mans I did a three-day test. It was tough stuff, but it’s part of the game.
“I did three very good days, we are pushing a lot. It looks good, a big step. I was happy about the test but we need to work and to push. It’s not ready but it’s coming.”

Here is the 2016/2017 FIA Formula E driver's line up at the moment:-

Renault e.dams: Sebastien Buemi, Nico Prost
Abt Audi Sport: Lucas di Grassi, Daniel Abt
DS Virgin Racing: Sam Bird, Jose Maria Lopez
Dragon Racing: Jerome d’Ambrosio, Loic Duval
Mahindra: TBC
Venturi: Stephane Sarrazin, TBC
Andretti: Robin Frijns, TBC
Techeetah: Jean-Eric Vergne, Ma Qing Hua
NextEV: TBC
Jaguar: TBC

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa