Indianapolis, Indiana – FIRST Motorsport have announced the driver that will partner Oleksandr Zozulya for the 2018 Formula Virtual season in the lead up to the United States V-Prix. A transcript from the press conference has been attached below. Adam Blocker: Firstly, I would like to welcome everyone to the US. I hope everyone will enjoy a good weekend of racing at one of the world’s most historic and prestigious racing venues. I have called this press conference today so that FIRST Motorsport can announce the second half of our driver lineup for 2018. With no further ado, I am pleased to announce that Felix Perez will be driving for FIRST next season. Felix is currently leading the FV2 season going into the final four races in the US and Mexico and he won the Virtual Americas Racing Series championship in 2015. Felix has been a part of our team’s youth academy for two years now and has continually impressed us both in FV2 and in the two young driver tests that he has been a part of. We have high hopes for him next season. Come on out Felix! Reporter: How does it feel to know that you will be on the 2018 Formula Virtual grid Felix? Felix Perez: It is unreal. Just making it to Formula Virtual is the fulfillment of a dream. It is even better knowing that I will be racing for a competitive team like FIRST that has been in good form recently. I am definitely looking forward to it. I can’t thank Adam and his team enough for giving me this opportunity and I would also like to thank my parents for their continued support on my long journey to get to where I am now. I can’t wait for winter testing and Australia. R: Felix, what are your targets going into next season? FP: My first target is to get up to speed with everyone in the team and learn all that I need to about next season’s car. After that the goal is to maximize the time I get in the car before the season starts and to go from there. R: Adam, FIRST’s youth academy seems to be paying dividends with both of your drivers for 2018 coming from the youth academy. This must satisfy you. AB: We have certainly had some success with it recently, with Zozulya and Perez both coming through it and that is satisfying. Although Zozulya and Perez are both new to Formula Virtual, as a driver lineup they have two seasons of experience working together at Kannan GP in FV2. This can only be an advantage, as the two have had the opportunity to develop a cooperative but competitive relationship that will make both cars faster. R: Felix that must be comforting to be working with a known teammate in Zozulya? FP: Yeah, Oleksandr and I have become good friends over the past two years. We have been really competitive with one another in FV2, and given how competitive he has been in Formula Virtual right now it looks promising for me as well. Just from talking to him a lot since he made his debut in Formula Virtual has given me a good idea of what to expect in the upcoming season. He will definitely have more pressure to perform at the beginning of the season than I will, given that he will have more experience in FV. R: Certainly. Adam, the main topic that has not been addressed yet is the departure of Arden Hutchinson. Would you care to elaborate on why FIRST has not chosen to retain him for next season? AB: Firstly I would like to thank Arden for all of his contributions to our team over the past two seasons. He has driven phenomenally at times this season, which was reflected in the fact that he was 5th in the drivers’ standings about half way through the season and remains solidly in the top 10. He scored our team’s maiden points and maiden podium within the first four races of the season and at one point had nine consecutive points scoring finishes, with a lot of those being top 5 finishes. I definitely wish him the best for the future and I wish we could have retained him for next season. I really hope he finds another seat for next season, he certainly deserves it. R: Why couldn’t FIRST retain him? AB: I am not going to discuss those details. Just know that Arden is leaving the team on good terms. R: Felix, is there any additional pressure on you knowing that you are set to become the first Mexican to start a Formula Virtual race? FP: I wouldn’t say that there is more pressure, but I would say that it only adds to the pride that I feel in making it to FV. I have enough confidence in myself to know that I will represent my country well. R: Finally, how do you think FIRST will do this weekend Adam? AB: The target is another points finish. We want to do well at home, but more importantly we need to score enough points to keep North Star behind is in the constructors’ standings. They are putting a lot of pressure on us after their win in Canada and our relative drop in form recently. So there it is. FIRST Motorsport have confirmed their 2018 driver lineup. Only three seats remain on the FV grid for 2018: two at Franklin and one at Ingram.
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