Venturi partners with Mercedes specialist HWA for 2017/18 FE season
Venturi has partnered with Mercedes specialist HWA for the 2017/18 Formula E season
HWA will embed engineering personnel within the FE team and offer additional technical support throughout the season.
The collaboration comes ahead of Mercedes entering FE as a works team from the 2019/20 season, and follows last month's confirmation of Mercedes DTM/GT racers Maro Engel and Edoardo Mortara as Venturi's FE drivers for 2017/18.
HWA runs Mercedes' DTM entry, is involved in its GT programme and builds Formula 3 engines.
It was founded in 1998 as a spin-off from AMG, Mercedes' high-performance division, and ran the title-winning FIA GT team that season before going on to significant success in the DTM.
"HWA is quite a big company, with a lot of very good engineers and a lot of experience," Mortara told Autosport. "To have their help is something very good.
"I can see that in Formula E the level is quite high, so the more help you can get the better it is.
"[HWA personnel] are quite involved in DTM and GT, I pretty much know all of them.
"It's clearly easier when you already know the people."
HWA has been the most prominent Mercedes outfit in the DTM, winning all seven of its drivers' titles, and currently operates the six Mercedes-AMG C63s in the series.
Engel said it would be "invaluable" for Venturi to draw on the organisation's experience.
"Venturi is an OEM, but compared to the big OEMs it's still relatively small," said Engel.
"The championship has the highest manufacturer involvement, and even more coming in.
"Adding that collaboration with HWA is a really big boost for Venturi."
Venturi suffered gearbox problems in pre-season testing at Valencia, after a faulty batch of parts blighted its running.
Mortara said the team's latest dyno running suggested the problem was solved, and Engel hopes that will let Venturi show the scope of its progress.
"Compared to 12 months ago the team has taken a huge step forward," Engel added.
"Some key people have joined the team, having Jacky Eeckeleart [as chief engineer] is a strong boost.
"The experience of the people that have joined is showing in how we approach going racing.
"Hopefully that will translate very soon into strong results."
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