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Just 94 short days separated the Season 5 finale in New York and Season 6 testing in Valencia. But as we all know, motorsport never sleeps – and during this period it was all hands on deck at Venturi Racing.
Amidst preparations for the upcoming campaign, however, we did manage to squeeze in some well-deserved time off to recharge our batteries ready to tackle Season 6 with maximum energy.
“Holidays are always great,” explains Felipe, as he prepares to embark on his second season with the team. “I managed to go to Miami with my family to enjoy a little bit of the hot weather by the pool, to spend time with some friends and also to go to some good restaurants. I managed to go to Brazil for a few weeks too – home is always home!
“It’s always great to be there to see family, to see your friends and to stay in the place that you grew up in. This was my holiday. It was quite positive – but now I’m looking forward to the new season. I really hope we can have a strong Season 6, with more podiums, more victories and possibly fighting for the top level in the championship.
“This is always what you need to put in your mind and I think we now have an even better dynamic in terms of the team. We have a completely new system with the Mercedes powertrain too, so hopefully the new season will be better for all of us.”
As for Edo? His break wasn’t quite as chilled as Felipe’s… in fact, we’d say it was pretty adrenaline-fuelled, as our Swiss-Italian star swapped four wheels for two in an off-road adventure.
“Well, I shouldn’t say… but I was mountain biking,” he explains, with a glint in his eye. “I fell off pretty hard, so I was fairly happy not to have anything serious in terms of injuries. That was the highlight!”
For Season 6, we also welcome a number of new team members to the Venturi family – including Laurent Fedacou, who joins as Edo’s race engineer for the coming season. Just like our drivers, Laurent enjoyed some time off after wrapping up his previous role in the DTM Series.
“The holiday that I liked was with the family - with my wife and kids - being by the sea, spending a lot of time together and being together as a family,” he said, with a beaming smile. “That was my highlight! Spending a lot of free time together and enjoying the summer.”
Team Manager Delphine Biscaye might just be the busiest figure in the Formula E paddock – but what she lacks in free time, she more than compensates for with her passion and enthusiasm to tackle the next challenge.
“There was not much holiday this summer!” she tells us, candidly. “We’ve been very busy preparing for the new season, so it didn’t really stop for us! After New York, we were straight back into the office working on the freight, the logistics and preparing everything for the cars to come back and be rebuilt. Just a week [of holiday], so it wasn’t much – but that’s racing, right?
“It’s our first year with the Mercedes powertrain, so I’m excited to see this new car on track and to see what we can do against the others. We’ve been very focused on development this summer – with the drivers in the simulator and together as a whole group – so I’m really excited to see what we deliver when we get out on track.”
We’re rested, recuperated, and raring to go… bring on Season 6!
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