Sauber Motorsport launches the Sauber Junior Team
Sauber Motorsport is delighted to announce the launch of the Sauber Junior Team program to compete in the FIA Formula 2, FIA Formula 3, ADAC Formel 4 Championship and the Italian F4 Championship, from 2019 onwards.
The Swiss Company has partnered with leading team Charouz Racing System, a successful organization with proven track records and state of the art facilities. The Sauber Junior Team will benefit from Sauber’s technical, sporting and commercial support and the first tests will take place in Abu Dhabi later this month.
With the Sauber Junior Team program, Sauber Motorsport will be able to offer a broad platform that will allow skilled drivers to race in the junior series in a highly professional environment and to progress from category-to-category to the top of motorsport.
Antonín Charouz, Team Owner of Charouz Racing System:
“Establishing a Junior Team partnership with Sauber Motorsport is a proud moment in the history of Charouz Racing System and we’re looking forward to taking some exceptional drivers on track in 2019, across three different categories of racing. The Sauber Junior Team programme is a very exciting development in international motorsport. It gives drivers the chance to potentially progress all the way from Formula 4 to Formula One with a single team. That’s a unique model and an exciting prospect for everyone involved.”
Frédéric Vasseur, CEO of Sauber Motorsport and Team Principal of the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team:
“Racing is a vital part of Sauber Motorsport’s DNA and the Sauber Junior Team marks an important milestone in the company history. Sauber has a long tradition of helping drivers reach their full potential, having worked with the likes of Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and upcoming star Charles Leclerc. With this project, Sauber further extends its racing platform with a complete and dedicated programme from the junior series to the pinnacle of motorsport. We are delighted to partner with Charouz Racing System, a highly professional team that operates with success in all the series”.
About Charouz Racing System:
Charouz Racing System is a respected force in global motorsport, thanks to its long and successful history of competing at the highest level. Established in 1985, and based close to Prague in the Czech Republic, the team has masterminded successful programmes in various motorsport categories including touring cars, Le Mans prototypes and single-seaters. After dominating both the teams’ and drivers’ championships during the 2017 Formula V8 3.5 season, the organisation increased its involvement in 2018 by stepping up to the FIA Formula 2 Championship and entering the Formula 4 category. It was a move that achieved instant success and showed the team’s ability to adapt to new challenges both quickly and effectively. The F2 squad scored a stunning one-two finish at the Monaco GP and has gone on to record another five podium finishes so far. Charouz impressively helped to guide Lirim Zendeli to eight ADAC Formula 4 Championship race victories – and the overall drivers’ title in 2018.
About Sauber Group of Companies:
The Sauber Group of Companies is globally renowned as one of the world’s leading high-tech brands. The pioneering and innovative company was founded in 1970, making its Formula One debut in 1993. Passion for racing is at the heart of Sauber and over the 45 years of activity in the motorsport industry, Sauber has developed exceptional skills and expertise in the construction and deployment of Formula One vehicles – Sauber Motorsport’s core business – which are applied in each of the Sauber Group’s third-party services. These are provided by Sauber Aerodynamics, which offers full and model-scale testing, CFD, and vehicle development including access to the state of the art wind tunnel facility, and Sauber Engineering, which focuses on additive manufacturing services including 3D metal printing, laser sintering, and stereolithography. Precision, efficiency, and performance, are the key elements that define Sauber’s success at the race track, as well as at the company headquarters in Hinwil, Switzerland. This results in a high degree of continuity between the group’s activities, ensuring that the expertise at the disposal of the Formula One team are available to all of our third-party customers.