Andromeda Automobilismo Brasileiro (Andromeda ABR for short) will become the first Brazilian and South American team to compete in Formula Virtual, after being revealed to have been granted the fifteenth and final team spot for 2019. Hector Seibel will be the Team Principal; the Brazilian hoping to give his country a solid team to support. Formula Virtual ratings in Brazil surged late 2013 when Enrique Ruiz made his mark in the sport, and the addition of Andromeda ABR will surely increase the interest even further. The team are already well known locally in Brazil after competing in Stock Car Brazil for the last few years, but now the team hope to become an internationally well known team.
The team will run with the numbers 47 and 48, and their first chassis will be named 'AND-HS1'. Andromeda ABR will reportedly go for a bright and distinctive livery for their inaugural season - much like their logo which stylizes the Brazilian flag and the countries national animal, the jaguar. It is yet to be decided on which engines the team may run with, after confirming they would not be making their own engines due to a small budget. Nic Morley and Hector Seibel hosted the press conference in front of many excited FV fans, plus an additional few thousand Brazilians via Skype. "I'm definitely excited for the upcoming season, not only because we are the first Brazilians in the history of Formula Virtual but we will represent all of South America which was so far underrepresented so we have some surprises under our sleeves to spice up the competition next year". "I’m pretty sure we can bring some new excitement to the people who are spectating Formula Virtual who are not yet represented as a team. Enrique Ruiz brought much joy and fans here in Brazil. I'm sure many people back home were wondering if any South American team would join in the Formula to invest and so here we are". "We have to manage well what we have. We only come so far, we are a well established team regionally but this investment is something for the future. We will definitely have to manage as well as we can financially to put up a fight as underdogs. For now all we have to do is to focus on designing a good vehicle and try to do our best. We are not keen to gamble on our own engine given our inexperience in the Formula racing field, not yet at least", said Seibel. Formula Virtual CEO Nic Morley, took hold of the microphone. "I am very excited to grant entry to Andromeda ABR into the Formula Virtual World Championship for 2019. Hector Seibel has been a recent member to join the FV community, but has shown his undeniable passion in public and especially behind the scenes. It is also quite intriguing to see a team from South America join the sport, and there is a lot to look forward to what they may bring to it. I want to formally hand Hector and his team a warm welcome to Formula Virtual and the best luck for their FV career". "The team choices for this year have been very tough as we received a lot of applicants. If the grid remained at thirteen teams it would be especially tough and even more teams would miss out. The last few days I have been carefully reading through the applications multiple times and it was a very careful decision. On that note I want to thank all the other applicants for their interest and I urge them all to stick about - there were some great applicants", said Morley. Formula Virtual now has their fifteen teams confirmed for 2019, the highest of any season prior. Some form of pre qualification is expected to be added, however is likely to be announced at seasons end. In the meantime, speculation will begin on which engines and which drivers Andromeda ABR will run with - as Lucas and Cheema have already confirmed their engine suppliers for 2019. This ends the tender process for new teams in 2019, in what has been a very busy week for Formula Virtual as the lead up to the 100th race intensifies. Comments are closed.
|
|