Venturi becomes Mercedes customer team for Formula E S6

Venturi has become a customer team for Mercedes in Formula E ahead of the start of the 2019-20 season next month, ramping up the German manufacturer's involvement in the all-electric series.

Venturi supplied HWA Racelab - the fore-runner to Mercedes' factory entry this year - with powertrains through Season 5, but the deal will now work the opposite away around for the new campaign.

In an announcement made on Thursday, it was confirmed that Venturi will pick up an extensive technical supply from Mercedes, the car's powertrain, covering cooling system, rear frame, rear suspension, dampers, software, onboard electronics and wiring looms.

Mercedes' factory team will make its Formula E debut at next month's Ad Diriyah E-Prix, with this deal essentially doubling the amount of data and information it will be able to gather as its powertrain supply grows from two to four cars.

“This development marks a significant step forward for the team and, with my longstanding relationship with Mercedes-Benz, I feel very confident that we will enjoy a strong working partnership with our new powertrain suppliers," Venturi team principal Susie Wolff said.

"We made good progress in Season 5 but our plans for Season 6 are even more ambitious and we are doing everything within our power to make sure that we are as competitive as possible before we head to Saudi Arabia for the season opener."

Andy Cowell, Managing Director of Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains, added: “We are taking the expertise we’ve built up over the last decade and applying it to the new challenge of Formula E. Working together with Venturi Racing, we will be able to increase our rate of learning in our debut season, and what’s more, with a well-established team, who have been part of the series since the very first year.

"The lessons learned and the technologies we are working on at the race track will also be incorporated into the development of road-going vehicles over time, so the entire Mercedes-Benz family will benefit as a result."

Venturi also confirmed on Thursday that it would be tweaking its name from 'Venturi Formula E Team' to 'Venturi Racing' for Season 6, as well as retaining its driver line-up of Edoardo Mortara and Felipe Massa.