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When Jean Todt, Alejandro Agag and Antonio Tajani gathered around the table of a Parisian restaurant in 2011, the concept of Formula E was born, noted down on a simple napkin.
As the series’ foundations were laid out, it was natural for championship founder Agag to reach out to Gildo Pastor – President of Venturi Automobiles and a visionary in the electromobility arena.
Drawing on his experience in electric vehicles, Gildo quickly pledged his support and the Venturi Formula E Team was founded, becoming the world’s only Monegasque racing team and the first manufacturer to join the championship.
275 days after committing to Formula E, we formed up on the streets of Beijing for the championship’s inaugural race.
With Nick Heidfeld and Stephane Sarrazin behind the wheel, we lined-up in P5 and P20 on the grid, for what would be a memorable debut for varying reasons.
While we gained our first points finish with Stephane, we also missed out on what could have been our maiden victory – an accident with Nico Prost for Nick snatching champagne from our clutches at the final moment.
With points on the board, however, we were ready for the season to continue, with success still waiting in the wings…
After bad luck in Putrajaya and Punta Del Este, racing in Buenos Aires would see another near sip of champagne for us here at Venturi, falling short of victory once more.
After fighting forward from P3 on the grid to the lead, a drive-through penalty with two laps to go halted a seemingly slam-dunk victory for Nick.
Dropping to P8 and with Stephane advancing to P10, however, we scored our first double points finish in Formula E and our largest haul to date at that stage.
With performance ever-present, however, it was only a matter of time before our first podium finish.
Taking P10 at Long Beach and back-to-back double points finishes at home in Monaco and Berlin, momentum was finally behind us and in Moscow, we first discovered our taste for silverware.
With Nick grabbing P8 in qualifying, a strategic masterstroke was pivotal in our first push to the podium, and by extending his opening stint, the German moved into P2 before pitting.
Rejoining the race in P5, Nick closed in on the battle for P3, overtaking Jean-Eric Vergne on the final lap to take P4 at the chequered flag.
A post-race time penalty for Sebastien Buemi, however, paved the path to the podium and after taking that first sip of champagne, we soon acquired a taste for it.
As we approached the final race of Formula E’s inaugural season, fortune finally favoured Stephane in qualifying as we recorded our maiden pole position in London.
Posting a pacy 1:23.901s lap around Battersea Park, the Frenchman beat Jerome d’Ambrosio to the top spot by only 0.064s, banking three bonus points as a result.
While our first victory would not follow suit – a penalty complicating matters – we had completed our first season in Formula E, gaining experience ahead of the impending 2015/16 campaign.
After a competitive start to Season 2 – recording five consecutive points finishes – Stephane continued to show his class at the Long Beach E-Prix in 2016.
Narrowly missing out on a second pole position, Stephane maintained his P3 starting-spot over the first half of the race, managing the 41-lap affair with calculated precision.
Inheriting P2 after a mistake for Sam Bird, Stephane showcased the efficiency of our VM200-FE01, challenging Lucas di Grassi for the win until the chequered flag waved.
Claiming the runner-up spot, Stephane recorded our best result in Formula E at that point and would continue to extend our tally as Season 2 continued.
With a podium finally under his belt, Stephane maintained his form from Long Beach, taking further points in Paris, Berlin and both London races for Venturi.
Ending Season 2 with a 100% points-scoring record – continually advancing his tally in every race – Stephane made history, becoming the first driver in Formula E to achieve this feat.
To this day, he remains as one of only two drivers to manage this – the other being Jean-Eric Vergne.
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