Formula Virtual is returning in 2027 and that reality became one step closer this week as the provisional calendar was revealed for the upcoming season. The calendar features 18 races - the most races in a year since 2018 - with plenty of familiar favourites mixed with some exciting new additions.
Pre-season testing kicks the year off in the final week of February, with teams testing their cars at the Circuito do Estoril over three days.
The teams and drivers will then make their way over to Australia and Malaysia for the opening two races of the season. The double header, at Albert Park and the Sepang International Circuit on the 14th and 21st March respectively, will be a familiar opening to the season with the Australian and Malaysian V-Prix hosting the opening two rounds from 2013 to 2017 and 2023 to 2024 - before the series was put on an abrupt hiatus. The Australian V-Prix, which has hosted the season opening race a total of nine times, returns to Albert Park for the first time since 2021 when Enrique Ruiz took the victory for Porsche Team Mathershaw. The Malaysian V-Prix often promises the threat of wet weather - who can forget the 2018 edition when the torrential rain brought carnage upon Formula Virtual, but Nathaniel Powers weathered the storm to take his only win of the season for Downton.
Formula Virtual remains in East Asia for the next two rounds, heading to Suzuka and Shanghai for the Japanese and Chinese V-Prix on April 4th and April 18th. This will be the first time since the series inaugural season - in 2013 - that the Japanese V-Prix will be held at the circuit, bringing an end to ten consecutive years at the Fuji Speedway as a deal could not be reached with the owners of the venue, Toyota Motor Corporation. The last of the initial 'flyaway' races will be held on the first weekend of May, as we embark on Formula Virtual's first ever visit to Kuwait. The first race at the Kuwait Motor Town circuit was scheduled to take place in 2024, so will instead make its debut in 2027 as the Middle East's sole representative on the calendar.
Two weeks later is the second double header of the season for the Spanish and Portuguese V-Prix, from Catalunya and Portimão on the 16th and 23rd May. The Spanish V-Prix returns to the Formula Virtual calendar for the first time since 2021 and will be the first race at the Catalunya circuit since 2014 when Lewis Ellington took Peugeot's only victory under the full factory Peugeot name. Ellington has a 100% record at Catalunya, having also won the 2013 Spanish V-Prix for BMW Zyla. It is, however, unlikely the British driver will maintain his record, having last raced in Formula Virtual for ARROW Mechanics in 2020 following a falling out with his previous team, Scuderia Meteor, at the start of the season. The Portuguese V-Prix returns to the calendar for the first time since 2017 and will be the first time Formula Virtual has raced at the Algarve International Circuit.
The European season continues throughout the summer as Formula Virtual heads to Magny-Cours and Silverstone on the 6th and 20th June, before the double header of Assen and Hockenheim on the 4th and 11th July. Magny-Cours has hosted the French V-Prix seven times previously, with Paul Ricard hosting the race from 2015 until 2018. Adrien Simon is the last Frenchman to win his home race, in 2016, with Jean Mattson being the last Frenchman to win at Magny-Cours in 2013. Both have retired now so all eyes will be looking to their next home hero, could Fleur-Elora Delacour be the next one to hear 'Allez les Bleus!'? The Dutch V-Prix has only been held once, in 2016, when Olen Inman took the chequered flag for DS Mathershaw. With Klaas van Snelheid competing in his first ever home race, only the brave would bet against the 2023 World Champion taking victory.
After a three week summer break, Formula Virtual returns for the Italian V-Prix at the Temple of Speed; the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. The race has been dominated by Mathershaw and Downton over the years with nine of the eleven V-Prix being won by the two teams - six wins for Mathershaw and three for Downton. Matteo Zetticci became the first Italian to win his home race in 2023, could he replicate it in 2027? The European season ends with rounds 13 and 14, the Turkish and Bulgarian V-Prix. Istanbul Park has been a feature on the Formula Virtual calendar since 2016; Adrien Simon has won four times and Klaas van Snelheid three times, the only other winner being Nick Addison in the Franklin in 2021. 2027 will be the first ever Bulgarian V-Prix as the A1 Motor Park joins the calendar to close the curtain on nine races in Europe. There has never been a Bulgarian driver in Formula Virtual and that looks set to continue for the time being, with Zhivko Dimitrov and Judoc Nikolov - both competing in endurance racing - looking unlikely candidates.
The final four races will be held across three different continents as we head to Yeongam, Korea for the first ever Korean V-Prix on the 12th September. Sung Kim Moon is currently the countries' highest ranked driver, currently competing in Virtual Super Formula. Formula Virtual then returns to familiar territory as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosts the United States V-Prix. The circuit has held all but one of the races in the United States, the only exception being in 2022 when Giani Ledesma produced one of the best defensive drives the sport has ever seen in Detroit - albeit whilst being lapped.
The final two rounds of the season will take place the the Autódromo de Buenos Aires Oscar y Juan Gálvez and the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, otherwise known as Buenos Aires and Interlagos, for the Argentine and Brazilian V-Prix on the 10th and 17th October. Argentina has only hosted Formula Virtual once before, in 2023, as the 2015 and 2016 editions were cancelled due to issues with the track. Brazil, meanwhile, has hosted the final race of the season on seven occasions, from 2016 to 2021, then again in 2023. Home hero Enrique Ruiz has won at Interlagos three times for three different teams - in 2014 for Franklin, 2021 for Mathershaw, then 2023 for the factory Porsche team - could the Brazilian do it again in 2027?
The week after the season-ending Brazilian V-Prix, the Young Driver Test will return for the first time in over ten years. This test will be open to all teams and will feature drivers with less than five Formula Virtual race entries, as the series looks ahead to the next generation of talent.
We hope you'll join us for our tour across the world in 2027, all eyes will now be on the official confirmation of the entrants for the 2027 FVA Formula Virtual World Championship, coming at the beginning of October...
