Faraday Future is jumping into Formula E. Only instead of launching its own team as Jaguar and others have, it’s partnering with an existing one.
That team would be Dragon Racing, run by publishing mogul and racing scion Jay Penske. Based on its earlier experience in IndyCars, Dragon Racing has competed in the electric racing series since its inception in 2014, and has won two races to date. Last season it finished second in the standings behind the championship winners at e.dams Renault.
Though ostensibly at least as much about promotion, the partnership emphasizes the opportunity to develop Faraday Future’s technologies on the race track. The announcement highlights the application of “key technology software solutions,” the opportunity to “refine data acquisition and analytics,” as well as improving “overall drivetrain performance” of the Dragon Racing platform.”
That’s just for next season, though. Starting in Season 4, Faraday and Dragon intend to work together on developing software, firmware and hardware, putting the manufacturer’s technologies on the race track and improving them for implementation in future road cars.
The partnership was announced at the London ePrix this weekend, where next season’s calendar was also announced.