A name change doesn’t always mean a racing team starts from scratch. In Formula 2, with cars, personnel, and technical expertise potentially carried from one season to the next, an entity can keep functioning even as its nature changes. This happened when Russian Time pulled out of the series at the end of 2018. Virtuosi Racing, having managed the Russian Time team since 2015, took control of its slot and assets and operated in the 2019 series as UNI-Virtuosi. Thus, the Formula 2 project was renamed, but the framework Russian Time had built largely remained intact.
The restructuring happened in December 2018, giving the new entity a base to start the next season. Russian Time claimed the title of Teams’ Champions in 2017 under Virtuosi’s management and achieved fourth place in 2018, winning four races and reaching the podium eight times. Andy Roche still oversaw the team, while Paul Devlin handled the technical side. Declan Lohan was listed as an owner alongside Roche and Devlin. Reports at the time also indicated that the engineering personnel and general structure would remain largely unchanged. In practical terms, the Russian Time name disappeared, but the organisation built around the entry continued.
For its first season under the UNI-Virtuosi name, the team selected Ghiotto and Zhou. Ghiotto already had experience with the organisation, having raced for the Russian Time entry in 2017, while Zhou arrived after competing in the European Formula 3 Championship. The new team finished second in the 2019 Teams’ Championship with 347 points, behind DAMS on 418. Ghiotto took four wins and ended the Drivers’ Championship third with 207 points. His victories came in Bahrain, at the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and the Hungaroring. Zhou finished seventh with 140 points and added three podiums, including second in Russia and third at Yas Marina.
The following season brought another driver change. Ghiotto moved to Hitech Grand Prix, and Callum Ilott took Zhou’s seat. Ilott had raced in Formula 2 for the Sauber Junior Team by Charouz in 2019 and was set to compete in the 2020 season as a Ferrari Driver Academy member. He began to look like a top title contender, winning three times and finishing runner-up with 201 points, behind Mick Schumacher on 215. Zhou collected 151.5 points for sixth place. UNI-Virtuosi also finished second in the Teams’ Championship for the season, this time with 352.5 points. PREMA Racing won the title with 392 points. Ilott’s wins were at the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and Monza, and he was still in the championship race at the conclusion in Bahrain.
Zhou remained on the team into 2021 with Drugovich joining him. Zhou was now a member of the Alpine Academy. Zhou was already one of the most seasoned drivers in the category. He won four times that season, at Monaco, Silverstone and Abu Dhabi, and also took third place in the Drivers’ Championship with 183 points. Drugovich scored 105 points to finish eighth. UNI-Virtuosi accumulated 288 points to be runner-up in the Teams’ Championship for the third year in a row, behind PREMA’s 444.5, while in the Drivers’ category. At the season-ending round in Yas Marina, Zhou impressed with a narrow second place in the first race followed by victory in the second Sprint Race. A few weeks earlier, Alfa Romeo confirmed that Zhou would be driving for their Formula 1 team in 2022.
The three seasons also illustrated how Formula 2 functions as part of the wider single-seater ladder. Ghiotto’s 2019 season followed his prior experience with the team, and Ilott’s 2020 effort made him a championship contender before he entered a test and reserve seat at Ferrari for the 2021 season. Zhou raced for three seasons at the team before going on to become the first permanent Chinese driver in F1 after joining Alfa Romeo. This wasn’t entirely down to UNI-Virtuosi, as other factors played a role. Still, the team operated at the upper level of junior single-seater racing. In contrast, each of the three drivers pursued a route toward Formula 1.
For Lohan, the transition continued the ownership role he had held since Virtuosi’s early involvement in professional single-seater racing. The move to UNI-Virtuosi did not require the organisation to build a new Formula 2 operation from scratch. Roche continued to manage the team, Devlin remained involved in the technical operation, and Lohan stayed among the owners. Much of the staff and working structure also carried over from Russian Time. This continuity mattered because the team could begin its first season under its own name with an established technical base, rather than spending a year rebuilding its operation.
By the close of 2021, UNI-Virtuosi had completed three Formula 2 seasons and finished second in the Teams’ Championship in each of them. The driver line-up changed from Ghiotto and Zhou to Ilott and Zhou, and then to Zhou and Drugovich, but the underlying organisation remained comparatively stable. Lohan, Roche and Devlin remained associated with the operation’s ownership and management, while drivers connected with the team moved on to further opportunities in international single-seater racing. The period therefore represented an important stage between Virtuosi’s Russian Time years and its later development under the Invicta name. For Declan Martin Lohan, it was also a period in which the racing organisation he had helped establish operated under its own identity for the first time.
