Catch Him If You Can:
Leonardo DiCaprio Launches Formula E Racing Team

Actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio has co-founded a racing team with Gildo Pallanca Pastor, president of Venturi Automobiles, a manufacturer of high-performance electric vehicles (EVs), to participate in the new FIA Formula E, the first international championship for all-electric cars starting in 2014.“The future of our planet depends on our ability to adopt cleaner and energy-efficient vehicles,” DiCaprio said. “Venturi Grand Prix showed a decidedly visionary approach by deciding to create a stable, environment-friendly race and I am proud to participate in this effort.”

By Jennifer Elks | Published 11 years ago | About a 2 minute read

“The future of our planet depends on our ability to adopt cleaner and energy-efficient vehicles,” DiCaprio said. “Venturi Grand Prix showed a decidedly visionary approach by deciding to create a stable, environment-friendly race and I am proud to participate in this effort.”

Formula E, officially the FIA Formula E Championship, is a class of auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). Formula E is intended to be the highest class of competition for one-make, single-seat, electric racing cars. The series was conceived in 2012, with the inaugural championship to be held in 2014–15.

The series will begin in September 2014 and take place in the heart of 10 of the world’s major cities, including Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Monte Carlo, Berlin and London. Ten teams, each with two drivers, will compete in the unique series created to attract a new generation of sports car fans while accelerating the EV market and promoting sustainable development.

Racing circuits through the cities will be between 2.5 and three kilometers long. Cars will accelerate from zero to 60 in three seconds, with a maximum speed of 220 km/h (136.7 mph). DiCaprio’s group will compete against Andretti Autosport, Dragon Racing, Asia’s China Racing, Super Aguri, Mahindra Racing, and European squads Drayson Racing, e.dams, Audi Sport ABT and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Racing.

“It is an honor and a pleasure to welcome the Venturi Grand Prix team as the tenth and final team to join the FIA Formula E,” said Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E Holdings, sponsor of the championship. “Of course, I would like to reserve a special welcome to Leonardo DiCaprio. Few environmental leaders have contributed as much as he to spread the message of sustainable development worldwide.”

“Formula E gives us a fantastic opportunity to further improve our technology through motorsports and participate in races around the world,” said Pallanca of Venturi, which holds the EV world speed record at 495 km/hour (307.6 mph). “It also gives us the chance to participate in a new racing program that deeply shared values Venturi for clean mobility, innovation in electric propulsion and optimization of energy efficiency.”

The Formula E series hopes to build on the launch earlier this year of the BMW i3, along with the success of Tesla in continuing to spread interest in EVs, which is growing steadily, at least in the U.S. — in August, the California New Car Dealers Association reported that Tesla sold more cars in California than Land Rover, Jaguar, Lincoln, Cadillac, Infiniti, Volvo or Porsche in 2013.