Former F1 driver Nick Heidfeld joins Formula E

Nick Heidfeld and Stéphane Sarrazin, no strangers to the international racing scene having participated in Formula 1 WRC and Le Mans, will join Venturi in the inaugural season of the FIA Formula E Championship.

The duo will be behind the wheel of their fully-electric single-seater racecars on September 13, 2014 in Beijing.

“It’s new, and new means exciting. It feels really special to be part of a starting project that is going to bring a lot to the future of racing and the automobile. I remember when I was young and starting in karting, sustainable development was not in people's mind. When you’ve been involved in driving and motorsport at a high level for such a long time, you step into a car and automatically start to compare to what you’ve experienced before. I will try to bring some ideas of what I’ve seen and experienced to help the team perform at the highest level. The team will work as one to find solutions: that's what I like, to move forward. Working on a car is really interesting and very satisfying when you achieve winning results,” said Nick Heidfeld.

“Being a part of this new championship is amazing. I am excited and motivated to sit in a totally new car with pioneering technology and to undertake a new discipline. In addition, street circuits promise a lot of close competition and fights between good drivers. You have to perform to make people dream. It’s a great way to raise awareness of electric vehicles. I have three years’ of experience in hybrid vehicle competition, which introduces the concept of being efficient in saving energy and the FIA Formula E Championship takes this to another level. This is something very important and I want to build on my experience. I am proud to race for Venturi, a renowned pioneer in electric vehicles. This is the future,” said Stéphane Sarrazin.

Heidfeld and Sarrazin join the list of drivers with confirmed seats to the first season, which include Daniel Abt and Lucas di Grassi for Audi Sport Abt, Sam Bird and Jaime Alguersuari at Virgin Racing, Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok at Mahindra Racing, Franck Montagny at Andretti Autosport and Jarno Trulli at new team TrulliGP.

Venturi Automobiles is a leader in high performance electric sports cars and is the current holder of the FIA world land speed record for an electric vehicle with 495kph.

Formula E’s first of 10 races takes place in Beijing around the iconic Olympic ‘Bird’s Nest’ Stadium with the season finale taking place in London on June 27 2015.