Cheema FV Racing, who made their debut in Formula Virtual this year, have confirmed their driver line-up for 2020. Current lead driver Nikolai Milkovich will retain his place for next year as part of his two year contract but he will be joined by Franklin driver and multiple race winner Tumo Kinnumen. Diego Campos, who is currently racing for the team as part of a three race stint, will also retain his reserve role. The announcement comes days after Milkovich finished 13th at the United States V-Prix, the team's best result which moved them from last to 13th in the championship. Milkovich has been arguably impressive at the team, getting them through to the race for the first time in Malaysia and looking on course for points in Spain until being punted off. Kinnumen meanwhile has had an up and down season with Franklin, having been beaten by teammate Enrique Ruiz on most occasions. Howevwe he shone last week, almost winning the race until he was hit by a backmarker. The Finn was out of a drive until he was signed by Cheema as Franklin will leave the sport after this year. This means Carson Davenport will leave the team after one year, though there are rumours that Cheema are currently negotiating a loan with Lucas. Neil Allenby was able to grab an interview with Ahmed Cheema after the announcement.
Reporter: Ahmed, just a couple of questions, Milkovich and Campos are two of the older drivers in FV, and Kinnumen isn’t far off, is experience crucial to a team like Cheema in your first couple of seasons in the sport? Ahmed Cheema: Yeah definitely, this season the team has learned a lot but there's always more to learn and seasoned verterns like Nikolai and Diego help us greatly, especially with development. That said, that is not the main reason we signed them, both Nikolai and Tumo are fantastic drivers and have the pace to match the experience. R: Nikolai Milkovich has been the star so far for Cheema, how quickly did he settle into the team and have you set any goals for him to achieve in the second half of 2019? AC: Yeah we were expecting Nikolai to do well but he has performed way better then expected! He did take two races, he was happy after pre-season testing but Australia and Japan he wasn't comfortable with the car. Since China though he has settled in and has been pulling out great performances like last week. As for any goals for the rest of the season, holding onto 13th would be great, and if we can qualify for more races that would be fantastic. R: Kinnumen will be the second driver that has gone from Franklin to Cheema. Have his performances so far this season been the catalyst for you signing him, or has it been the plan for some time? AC: No way was this a plan, we literally only considered it last week. During the race Kimi [Young, technical director] said to me "Tumo's doing well, maybe he's an option?" He has talent, we've seen it before. Certainly for a small team like us he is a big signing and gives us a lot of confidence going into next year. But I can assure you the Franklin to Cheema fact is coincidence, I didn't know about that myself! R: Campos was in the car for the US V-Prix and will be for the next two races, will he get more time in the car going forward or is his role going to be more focused on the development of the car? AC: Yep after the next two races Diego will be more focused on development, he's done well there over the year so far. That being said, he will take part in a few practice sessions this year, but after the next two races Carson will be back in for racing, though I dare say we will have to prise him from Lucas. R: Thanks Ahmed. So there you have it. Milkovich and Kinnumen will be racing at Cheema for 2020.
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