As we edge ever closer to the long-awaited return of Formula Virtual for the 2027 season, FVTV takes a look at the teams who will compete for the most coveted championship in virtual motorsport.
Downton
With five Constructors’ and five Drivers’ championships, the famous orange team from Amesbury will be looking to pick up exactly where they left off in the early stages of the 2024 season where the great Nathaniel Powers took the win at the opening race of the season. Powers, however, has now retired from the series so Downton will have to look elsewhere for a star driver. All eyes will be on Klaas van Snelheid to see if the Dutchman will remain at the team he has driven for since his debut in 2017, or will he seek a new challenge elsewhere? Either way, Downton’s intent is to win both championships once again in 2027.
Lamborghini
When Formula Virtual was last on our screens, the team on the rise was undoubtedly Lamborghini. Before becoming the works Lamborghini squad, the team went through many guises. Beginning life as Meteor Motorsport in 2013, the team then briefly ran under the Peugeot name for 2014 before returning to the Meteor name for 2015 – albeit as Meteor International. The name stuck until 2019 when a mid-season change of ownership led to another new name, Scuderia Meteor for 2020. After three torrid seasons, Lamborghini bought the team and transformed it into a full factory team for 2023 which proved to be an improvement.
However, the real transformation came for 2024 when, in the hands of Enzo Domenicalli, the team recorded a second-place finish in Adelaide before Domenicalli produced one of the most dominant displays in Formula Virtual history at the final race before the series’ hiatus. Domenicalli won’t be on the grid in 2027, as he has moved to eVirtual where he remains with the Italian marque, and there will be much talk regarding if Lamborghini can maintain their place at the top of the timesheets.
Westwood
Known as Peugeot Westwood for 2023 and 2024, the British team will return to their former name of Westwood Racing Technology as they move back to being an independent outfit. With Peugeot stepping away from Formula Virtual as they look ahead to a possible Virtual World Endurance Championship entry, Westwood have gone back to their roots and moved home to their original Southampton base. 2027 could be more challenging for the team, as they look to find a new engine supplier and reaccustom themselves to being an independent entry, however there are few teams with better knowledge and personnel than them – one of just two original 2013 teams still on the grid, alongside Downton.
The first two rounds of 2024 was the team’s best ever start of a season and Westwood fans were naturally gutted when they never saw such promise come to fruition. Will they be able to challenge the big manufacturers in 2027? Much will depend on whether or not they are able to re-sign their highly rated driving pair.
Phoenix
For one of very few occasions in their history as a Formula Virtual team, Phoenix are reportedly heading into 2027 on a relatively stable footing. The team from Manchester scaled down their operations for 2025 and 2026, focusing on competing in GT series and maintaining solvency, however they are looking ahead to the return of FV with quiet optimism.
Former drivers Will Taylor and Ott Eskola proved valuable assets for them in recent years but will they remain at the team from Manchester, or will Phoenix look to an all new line-up to kick off the new era of Formula Virtual?
Hirsch-Ren
Hirsch-Ren Motorsport is a new name to Formula Virtual fans, however it is born from a familiar one. ARROW Mechanics did not survive after the series was put on hiatus and, subsequently, Nuki Hirsch purchased the team and all it’s assets. With bases in the United Kingdom and Germany, the new owners will be looking to establish Hirsch-Ren with plenty of scope to expand and grow over the coming years.
There is no doubt that the star driver for the team, in their days as ARROW, was always Yakumi Takahashi. However, under a totally new guise, will the rebranded outfit want to have a fresh start in the driver department too?
Ocelot
Now one of the oldest surviving teams in Formula Virtual, Ocelot will be hoping to replicate their mighty 2018 and 2023 seasons once FV returns in a few months’ time. Between those years, the Japanese team admirably became a strong midfield runner with occasional forays towards both the front and rear of the grid. Having initially ‘yo-yoing’ after their 2018 successes, recent years have been much more stable and the wider profile and stature of the team looks geared up for a push towards the front of the field once more.
Puccio Giodano has so far spent eight seasons at Ocelot with just one year at Westwood in 2020 acting as the divider. Will the experienced Italian remain for the coming season? Giodano and his teammate for 2023 and 2024, Felipe Cesar, are now both well into their 30s so will Ocelot look to the next generation of drivers?
AMR
One of Formula Virtual’s beloved underdogs, AMR, will return to the grid for the 2027 season. The Australian team gradually built from the back to go from 45 DNQs in 2019 and 2020, to 8th in 2022, then a magnificent 3rd in 2023. It will remain a mystery if the trajectory would have continued in 2024, but Adrian Arnello and his team will certainly hope it does in 2027.
Swiss driver Finn Schnyder has been with the team all the way since their rebranding in 2018 and is the bookies’ favourite to drive for them again in the coming season, having taken one of their two race victories. Arnello Milner & Ronson Autosport would dearly love to add a third to that list.
Lopez
The team that started life as Warrior, all the way back in 2014, has established itself as one of the most solid midfield teams in Formula Virtual since becoming Lopez in 2016. Famous for their eye-catching bright yellow liveries, viewers can never mistake a Lopez car for anything else.
The team, with Dylan Lopez at the helm, has always had a history of signing proven great drivers. Karl Beckenbauer, Jochem van Snelheid, 2015 World Champion Elroy Wagner, and Allar Kangur have all graced the Lopez garage over the years but only Kangur managed to achieve victory for the Swiss team – at the famous 2020 Japanese V-Prix. Could they replicate it in 2027?
SRT
Rounding off the nine returning teams is Seifert Racing Team, commonly known as SRT. The German team were one of the newest entries to Formula Virtual back in 2024, having joined the season before. Their first season-and-a-bit in virtual motorsport’s primary category yielded little success as their cars only appeared on the starting grid 8 times in 18 races, although things seemed to be looking up in 2024 with both cars making the grid in Adelaide and Sepang.
Their drivers for 2024, Danilo Forini and Henri Ruotsalainen, are two of the sport’s most exciting young drivers and SRT will surely want to hold onto them both as we head towards 2027. Surely, though, they will both be in high demand.
Mercedes
The first of six new teams for 2027 is Mercedes AMG FV Racing, headed by former Porsche Team Principal Sven Schubert. The famous German manufacturer has decided to enter Formula Virtual with a full factory outfit, over 10 years since they supplied engines to Mathershaw and Warrior. In more recent times, Mercedes have competed in eVirtual as powertrain supplier to the ARROW and K8ley teams, so this next step is a huge one for the brand.
K8ley
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride is an idiom that could certainly be attached to K8ley Racing. The British team, based in Northwich, Cheshire, has competed in FVA-recognised series since 2021 and, prior to that, competed in Virtual Touring Cars as long ago as 1999 – with private cars entered under the Kateley name as early as 1997. They were provisionally accepted onto the grid for the 2025 Formula Virtual season which never came to fruition so, finally, they will get their long-awaited chance in 2027.
Nakley
Nakley FV Team is an Australian outfit led by former FVA president and Formula Virtual CEO Nic Morley. Morley is the individual who birthed Formula Virtual, as a series, all the way back in 2013 and oversaw FV transform over the years into the incredible championship and community that it is in the modern era. Nakley as a team competed in the eVirtual World Championship from 2020-2021 but now, for the first time, will compete in the series that Morley once ran.
ASM
Adrien Simon Motorsport by Mathershaw Technology, or ASM for short, is the exciting new entry to Formula Virtual headed by the inseparable trio of 2016 World Champion Adrien Simon, legendary Team Principal Arthur Lapierre, and genius Technical Director Robert Mathershaw. Simon spent his entire Formula Virtual career driving for the Mathershaw team where together they won the 2016 Drivers’ title and three Constructors’ titles – 2016, 2018, and 2022 – with an incredible record of achieving a top three finish in the Constructors’ championship in every single season that they competed in.
Now, entering Formula Virtual as a new team, it will be a very different challenge. ASM will have to gradually build their way up from the back of the grid and, instead of sweating over title races going down to the wire, will have to contend with the perils of being much further back.
Hyundai
Having previously competed in the eVirtual World Championship in 2023, Hyundai recently entered the re-launched electric racing series for 2026-27. Additionally, the South Korean manufacturer have expanded their virtual motorsport outfit to Formula Virtual. By doing so, they become the fourth factory team on the grid, after Downton, Lamborghini, and Mercedes. With the brand never having previously entered Formula Virtual in any form, 2027 could be a tough learning curve for them. Matteo Dela Fuente will lead the team in their first ever season on the Formula Virtual grid, but who will drive for them?
Teku
Little is known about the 15th and final entrant to the 2027 grid, except that the team is based in Monterey, California and will be using Beryllium Performance Engineering engines. They are the new virtual motorsport branch of Teku Tuners – a company who builds aftermarket parts. The team has never competed in an FVA-sanctioned series before, nor has Team Principal Vert Wheeler, so they will be jumping in at the deep end by entering Formula Virtual straight away.
So, there we have it, the 15 teams who will compete in the 2027 FVA Formula Virtual World Championship. Which team are you most excited to see return? Which of the new teams do you think will come out on top? Let us know!
Next on the agenda, bidding for drivers...