Formula E Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
Formula E Wiki
Formula E World Championship Wiki
510
pages
in: Teams, Dragon Racing, American Teams, Current Teams

Dragon Racing

Revision as of 15:58, 19 July 2018 by JPDurzel (Message Wall | contribs)
 Sign in to edit
Dragon Racing
Dragon Racing logo
Team Information
Based Flag of the United States Los Angeles, US
Début 2014 Beijing ePrix
Founder Jay Penske
Key People Paul Woolnough
Driver(s) José María López (No.6)
Jérôme d'Ambrosio (No.7)
Car Penske 701-EV
Sponsor(s) Chevrolet, McAfee, Microsoft, TrueCar
Website Dragon Racing
Team Stats
Last Season 2nd
Entries 100
Wins 2
First Win 2015 Berlin ePrix
Points 462
Poles 2
Podiums 10
Fastest Laps 4
Titles
Current Season
Entrant Dragon Racing
Flag of Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Flag of France José María López
Jerome d Ambrosio Jose Maria Lopez
– (0 Pt(s)) – (0 Pt(s))
Team Standings
5th (163 Pt(s))

Dragon Racing, previously known as Faraday Future Dragon Racing, are an American racing team which competed in the 2017/18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship, partnered by Penske.[1] A semi-successful team in Formula E, Dragon Racing have taken two wins in the first two seasons of the series, both taken by lead driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio after disqualifications for Lucas di Grassi.[2]

Unfortunately for them, 2016/17 would see Dragon only take a handful of points finishes, prompting them to sign Porsche factory driver Neel Jani for season four.[3] However, Jani would leave the team after his debut in Hong Kong, with José María López brought in for the rest of the season.[4]

Background

Luczo Dragon Racing were formed in 2006, originally to compete in IndyCar.[1] After a brief spell out of action between 2010 and 2011, the team were re-branded in their current guise, and continued to compete in Indy Car, notably aiding Katherine Legge in her career, before ceasing their operations in the American series in 2014.[5]

Formula E History

Dragon Racing announced that they would bring their full attention to Formula E, having ended their involvement in IndyCar.[5] They also boast some of the biggest sponsors in the world, including McAfee, Microsoft and Chevrolet, who may also get involved in the championship.[1] They had initially announced that Mike Conway would drive for them early in 2014, with d'Ambrosio announced a few weeks later, but the Brit pulled out shortly before the 2014 Beijing ePrix.[1] His seat was filled by Oriol Servià, who ran the other two Spark-Renaults at the opening race of the series.[1]

Servia and d'Ambrosio were consistent point scorers, a trend which continued after Loïc Duval joined the team at the 2015 Miami ePrix.[6] Duval's move came about after Servia was offered the chance to become a director in the team, a role which he took up a few days before the ePrix in Miami.[6] d'Ambrosio then took a breakthrough win at the 2015 Berlin ePrix, becoming the seventh different winner in the inaugural season, following Lucas di Grassi's disqualification.[2] The team were then placed in second in the Championship, a surprise to most after the first seven races.[2]

After falling out of the top two after Moscow and the 2015 London ePrix I, Dragon's duo of d'Ambrosio and Duval scored a double podium in the final race of the season.[7] That result put them back in second, overtaking Audi Sport ABT whom had looked set to finish second up until that point.

Venturi Valour

For the 2015/16 season, Dragon secured a deal with Venturi Automobiles, who run their own FE team in the form of Venturi Grand Prix, to build a powertrain.[8] With Duval and d'Ambrosio retained, the 2015 Donington Test became an interesting duel between the "factory" Venturi team, and the "customer" Dragon effort. After the six day test, it would be the American effort who seemed to have mastered the new car, despite only receiving their first pair of cars at the shakedown before the Test week.

It would be a strong start to the season for Dragon, with Duval and d'Ambrosio both getting into the points having both challenged for the podium until the closing stages.[9] A less successful day in Putrajaya, before d'Ambrosio snatched a pole, and podium, in Punta del Este, a race long duel with Duval demonstrating the team's natural pace.[10] The Dragon team's battle with Venturi was also going in their favour, with another double points finish secured in the 2016 Buenos Aires ePrix.[11]

Then came the 2016 Mexico City ePrix, where d'Ambrosio claimed an impressive pole, the second for the team, before going on to lead the race early on.[12] The Belgian would ultimately lose out in the race when di Grassi took the lead just before the stops, with the Belgian fending off numerous challenges from Sébastien Buemi for second.[12] Yet, after the race, one of di Grassi's cars was found to be underweight leaving the Belgian as the race winner, a repetition of the events at the 2015 Berlin ePrix.[12]

For the rest of the season, Dragon's pace would largely disappear, leaving them to slip down the pecking order to fourth, behind DS Virgin Racing. Duval would suffer three retirements in succession with d'Ambrosio only scoring points once during the Frenchman's run towards the end of the campaign. Fortunately for the team, and just days after they confirmed their plans for season three, Duval and d'Ambrosio would once again battle for a podium spot, with the Belgian claiming third in the 2016 London ePrix II to round out the season in fifth, while Dragon missed out on third place by just a single point.[13]

Penske Power

Team owner Jay Penske arranged for Dragon to run their own cars for the 2016/17 season, uniting a number of American companies under the Penske name to build a powertrain.[14] A new title sponsor, and supplier, Faraday Future were also signed up, while the driving partnership of d'Ambrosio and Duval were also retained ahead of the 2016 Donington Test.[15] The test would see the Penske 701-EV run publicly for the first time, with Duval setting an excellent time on the final day to put the new car into fifth in terms of ultimate pace.

A Porsche Prospect?

For 2017/18 Dragon would continue to use a Penske built powertrain, with d'Ambrosio retained as their lead driver for the season.[16] However, the team also revealed that a group of Porsche engineers would be working alongside their team for the season, in preparation for their debut in 2019/20 with an as yet unnamed team.[17] This deal also included a provision for ex-Porsche LMP1 racer Neel Jani to join the team, with the Swiss pilot to partner d'Ambrosio for the full season.[16]

Unfortunately it would be a miserable start to the season for Dragon, with neither d'Ambrosio nor Jani managing to score at all at the opening round.[18] That fact prompted Jani to leave the team after the opening two races in Hong Kong, with the Swiss racer citing his disappointment of his FE debut.[4] That allowed Dragon to hire the free agent José María López for the rest of the season, with the Argentine ace duly delivering their first points finish of the season with sixth place in Marrakech.[19]

Dragon would field Maximilian Günther and Andrea Caldarelli during the 2018 Rookie Test, with the former ending the day third fastest overall, before López and d'Ambrosio returned for the battle of Santiago.[20] This time it was d'Ambrosio's turn to pick up his first points of the season, with López retiring, before the pair tripped over one-another in Mexico City to drop out of the points.[21] López then claimed Dragon's first fastest lap award in Punta del Este after a race long fight wiht his teammate, before d'Ambrosio claimed seventh in Rome.[22]

Another non-score would follow in Berlin, before d'Ambrosio lucked into a podium finish in Zürich by being one of the few not to get punished for speeding during a FCY.[23] However, the season finale in New York City would be less successful, with d'Ambrosio and López effectively taking each other out in the first corner after both making strong starts.[24] A double retirement would round out a relatively poor season for Dragon in New York, with the American squad down in ninth come seasons end.

The Draco-Phoenix?

Ahead of the 2018/19 season it was revealed that d'Ambrosio would finally leave the team, the Belgian racer deciding to pursue offers made elsewhere, as Dragon renewed their partnership with Penske for a third straight campaign.[25]

Formula E Record

The tables below show Dragon Racing's full record in the FIA Formula E Championship.

Formula E Entries

The table below gives an overview of Dragon Racing's entries in Formula E:

Dragon Racing's overall Formula E Record
Season Official name No. Drivers DC Pos. DC Pts. Car TC Pos. TC Pts.
2014/15 Flag of the United States Dragon Racing 6 Flag of Spain Oriol Servià 19th 16 Spark-Renault SRT_01E 2nd 171
6 Flag of France Loïc Duval 9th 42
7 Flag of Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio 4th 113
2015/16 Flag of the United States Dragon Racing 6 Flag of France Loïc Duval 8th 60 Venturi VM200-FE-01 4th 143
7 Flag of Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio 5th 83
2016/17 Flag of the United States Faraday Future Dragon Racing 6 Flag of France Loïc Duval 15th 20 Penske 701-EV 8th 33
6 Flag of the United Kingdom Mike Conway 24th 0
7 Flag of Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio 18th 13
2017/18 Flag of the United States Dragon Racing 6 Flag of Switzerland Neel Jani 25th 0 Penske EV-2 9th 41
6 Flag of Argentina José María López 17th 14
7 Flag of Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio 14th 27

Career Results

Listed below are the full career results of Dragon Racing:

FIA Formula E Championship Record
Year Driver Rounds Pos. Pts.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2014/15 Flag of China Flag of Malaysia Flag of Uruguay Flag of Argentina Flag of the United States Flag of the United States Flag of Monaco Flag of Germany Flag of Russia Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of the United Kingdom 2nd 171
d'Ambrosio 6th 5th 8th 15th 4th 6th 5th 1st 11th 2nd 2nd
Servia 7th 7th 9th 9th
Duval 7th 9th Ret 3rd 15th 8th 3rd
2015/16 Flag of China Flag of Malaysia Flag of Uruguay Flag of Argentina Flag of Mexico Flag of the United States Flag of France Flag of Germany Flag of Russia Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of the United Kingdom 4th 143
Duval 4th 16th 4th 6th 4th 8th Ret Ret CAN Ret 4th
d'Ambrosio 5th 14th 3rd 16th 1st 7th 11th 16th CAN 9th 3rd
2016/17 Flag of Hong Kong Flag of Morocco Flag of Argentina Flag of Mexico Flag of Monaco Flag of France Flag of Germany Flag of Germany Flag of the United States Flag of the United States Flag of Canada Flag of Canada 8th 33
Duval 14th 18th 6th Ret Ret 16th Ret 5th 13th Ret 19th
d'Ambrosio 7th 13th 8th 14th Ret Ret 14th 13th Ret 10th 11th 9th
Conway 14th
2017/18 Flag of Hong Kong Flag of Hong Kong Flag of Morocco Flag of Chile Flag of Mexico Flag of Uruguay Flag of Italy Flag of France Flag of Germany Flag of Switzerland Flag of the United States Flag of the United States 9th 41
d'Ambrosio Ret 15th 15th 8th 11th 9th 7th 12th 19th 3rd 13th Ret
Jani 18th 18th
López 6th Ret 12th 8th 17th 10th 18th 12th Ret Ret

References

Videos and Images:

References:

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 'Teams: Dragon Racing', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/teams/dragon-racing.aspx, (Accessed 18/07/2015)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 'Di Grassi excluded from DHL Berlin ePrix', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 23/05/2015), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/di-grassi-excluded-from-dhl-berlin-eprix.aspx, (Accessed 23/05/2015)
  3. ↑ 'Neel Jani Joins Faraday Future Dragon Racing', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 25/08/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/august/neel-jani-joins-faraday-future-dragon-racing/, (Accessed 25/08/2017)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 'Jose Maria Lopez replaces Neel Jani at DRAGON', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 05/01/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/january/jose-maria-lopez-replaces-neel-jani-at-dragon/, (Accessed 05/01/2018)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 'Dragon Racing', wikipedia.org, (WikiMedia, 16/07/2015), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Racing, (Accessed 18/07/2015)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 'Duval gets Dragon seat for Miami', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 09/03/2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/march/duval-gets-dragon-seat-for-miami.aspx, (Accessed 30/04/2015)
  7. ↑ 'Bird hails ‘unbelievable’ end to season', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 28/06/2015), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/june/bird-hails-unbelievable-end-to-season.aspx, (Accessed 30/06/2015)
  8. ↑ 'FIA homologates manufacturers for second Formula E season', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 03/08/2015), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/august/fia-homologates-manufacturers-for-second-formula-e-season.aspx, (Accessed 03/08/2015)
  9. ↑ 'Buemi to the max in Beijing', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 24/10/2015),http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/october/buemi-wins-swusp-beijing-eprix.aspx, (Accessed 25/10/2015)
  10. ↑ 'Buemi back on top', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 19/12/2015), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/december/buemi-back-on-top.aspx, (Accessed 25/12/2015)
  11. ↑ 'Bird holds off Buemi for BA win', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 06/02/2016), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2016/february/bird-holds-off-buemi-for-ba-win.aspx, (Accessed 22/03/2016)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 'Di Grassi stripped of Mexico win', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 12/03/2016), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2016/march/di-grassi-stripped-of-mexico-win.aspx, (Accessed 13/03/2016)
  13. ↑ 'BUEMI WINS TITLE AFTER SPECTACULAR FINALE: VISA FASTEST LAP ENDS UP DECIDING THE 2015/16 FIA FORMULA E CHAMPIONSHIP', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 03/07/2016), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2016/july/buemi-wins-title-after-spectacular-finale/, (Accessed 04/07/2016)
  14. ↑ 'TEN TEAMS ENTERED FOR THE 2016-17 FIA FORMULA E CHAMPIONSHIP', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 01/07/2016), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2016/july/ten-teams-entered-for-the-2016-17-fia-formula-e-championship/, (Accessed 08/07/2016)
  15. ↑ Scott Douglas, 'DRAGON KEEP D’AMBROSIO AND DUVAL FOR SEASON THREE: Dragon Racing will field an unchanged line-up for season three of Formula E', thecheckeredflag.co.uk, (The Checkered Flag, 03/07/2016), https://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/2016/07/dragon-keep-dambrosio-duval-season-three/, (Accessed 08/07/2016)
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 'Neel Jani Joins Faraday Future Dragon Racing', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 25/08/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/august/neel-jani-joins-faraday-future-dragon-racing/, (Accessed 25/08/2017)
  17. ↑ Gary Watkins, 'Porsche: LMP1 drivers not guaranteed Formula E seats', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 30/10/2017), https://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/porsche-lmp1-drivers-not-guaranteed-formula-e-seats-973072/, (Accessed 30/10/2017)
  18. ↑ 'Many happy returns: Abt sails to victory in Hong Kong harbour', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 03/12/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/december/many-happy-returns-abt-sails-to-victory-in-hong-kong-harbour/, (Accessed 03/12/2017)
  19. ↑ 'Rosenqvist victorious in 2018 ABB FIA Formula E Marrakesh E-Prix', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 13/01/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/january/rosenqvist-victorious-in-2018-abb-fia-formula-e-marrakesh-e-prix/, (Accessed 13/01/2018)
  20. ↑ 'Formula E rookie test driver line-up revealed', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 04/01/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/january/formula-e-rookie-test-driver-line-up-revealed/, (Accessed 04/01/2018)
  21. ↑ 'Abt finally clinches first victory in Mexico City', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 03/03/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/march/abt-finally-clinches-first-victory-in-mexico-city/, (Accessed 04/03/2018)
  22. ↑ 'Bird claims historic victory in Rome', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 14/04/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/april/bird-claims-historic-victory-in-rome/, (Accessed 14/04/2018)
  23. ↑ 'Di Grassi clinches first season victory in historic Swiss race', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 10/06/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/june/di-grassi-clinches-first-season-victory-in-historic-swiss-race/, (Accessed 11/06/2018)
  24. ↑ 'Di Grassi victorious as Vergne clinches championship crown', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 14/07/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/july/di-grassi-victorious-as-vergne-clinches-championship-crown/, (Accessed 15/07/2018)
  25. ↑ Sam Smith, 'D’Ambrosio Set for Dragon Exit', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 21/05/2018), https://e-racing365.com/formula-e/dragon-exit-for-dambrosio/, (Accessed 19/07/2018)
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More Formula E Wiki