Geely Nio

**Geely NIO FI Team** is a Chinese racing team which races in Formula International. Initially founded as China Racing, the team became the first Formula E Champions in 2015 and eventually changed to NEXTEV TCR, but would later fail to replicate their initial success. In 2017, they changed name to NEXTEV NIO and later in 2018 to NIO FE Team, but the team struggled and finished last when the new regulations came. In 2021, the team started an alliance with Chinese car company Geely and changed name for the fifth time, becoming the current Geely Nio team. With their new alliance, Nio rose up the grid and established themselves as a strong midfielder. From 2032, Nio started rising up further, reaching the frontrunners by 2034 and in 2036 and 2037 they won back to back doubles, with both driver titles being won by marquee signing Miguel Angel Larrazabal Rojas.

## Origins and Formula E History

Nio was initially founded as China Racing in 2015 and raced in the inaugural season of Formula E. Eventually during the season they underwent their first name change, becoming NEXTEV TCR and in the end they won the first ever season of the series with Nelson Piquet Jr. However next season was a disaster and they finished 9th in the standings. In 2017, they became NEXTEV NIO and they improved somewhat. In 2018, they changed name to NIO Formula E Team and raced until 2020 with this name, with limited success.

## 2020: Rock bottom

In 2020, the Nio team signed Andelko Peric and Simone Cimorelli for the new era of the series. The team had the slowest car of the grid and a weak lineup to make matters worse. Peric struggled and scored just 8 points, but Cimorelli fared even worse as he was consistently off the pace of the entire grid and wound up being the only driver of the grid to fail to score a single point. As a result, Nio finished last in the standings.

## 2021-2027: Alliance with Geely and in the midfield

In 2021, Nio announced they would form an alliance with Chinese car giants Geely, thus becoming Geely NIO from now on. With the alliance and rebranding, Nio saw a budget increase and also more competitiveness. For 2021, the team signed two Asian prospects, Li Sin and Jason Leung. The duo established themselves in the midfield and showed some great promise, with Sin 11th and Leung 14th. Sin missed two races due to an injury and Xi Zao filled in, scoring 6 points. However, they lost all the drivers in 2022 and signed a new lineup, Doug Tosser-Schmidt and Mario Leduc. The new lineup was unable to replicate the previous success and scored a total of 32 points. For 2023, the team signed promising Saulius Sudzius and Andrei Aimansha. While Sudzius was very competitive and finished in the top 10, Aimansha struggled with the car and fell in the lower midfield.

For 2024, the team signed Antoine Robespierre and Josephin Yashin. Robespierre showed some decent pace, but Yashin struggled in the same way Aimansha struggled in the previous season. In 2025, the team signed Leduc and Andelko Peric for a second timem with the team finishing well in the midfield. For 2026, Tosser-Schmidt returned for a second stint and Francesco Virgolini joined. 2026 was a better season for the team, with Virgolini finishing 14th and Tosser-Schmidt 15 and scoring a total of 62 points. In 2027, Virgolini was retained by the team and Sake Okasas was signed. Virgolini finished well in the midfield again while Okasas scored the team's first podium since 2018.

## 2028-2031: Ups and downs

Virgolini was retained again and Tosser-Schmidt returned to the team. However, 2028 was a setback as Virgolini only scored 11 points and Tosser-Schmidt only 4 points. In 2029, Nio did a major shock in the transfer window by signing former FE champion Carlos Sainz Jr. to partner Virgolini. The former McLaren star finished 9th and scored the team's only podium while Virgolini finished 13th. With Sainz retiring from the sport in 2030, Tosser-Schmidt returned. Virgolini had another decent season while Tosser-Schmidt scored only 1 point. 2031 saw a new lineup, consisting of rookies Suresh Bhandari and Kobus Botha. The team struggled for pace during that year, with both drivers scoring only 1 point each.

## 2032-2035: Rising up the grid

In 2032, Bhandari was retained and the team signed promising Iranian Farid Esmaeilzadeh. In what was the team's year that saw their rise up the grid, Esmaeilzadeh dazzled the paddock by finishing 5th in an otherwise decent car and scored the team's first win since 2015, also becoming rookie of the year. Bhandari finished 12th and also showed flashes of potential.

However, both drivers left the team in the end of the year, Esmaeilzadeh moving to Alpha Tauri and Bhandari to Racing Point. Another highly rated prospect, Emilio Guerra moved to the team and veteran Roman Massey was signed as well. Guerra finished 6th and became rookie of the year while the 32-year old Massey also did a good job and finished 7th. In 2034, former FE driver Onni Korhonen and prospect Oliver Robinson were signed. Korhonen scored the team's only win of the season and finished 7th while Robinson finished 13th. Korhonen retired from the sport prematurely in the end of the season and Robinson would be partnered by Malaysian Shawn Ling. Both cars finished in the top 10, with Robinson 8th and Ling 9th.

## 2036-2038: The return to glory

In 2036, the team signed Miguel Angel Larrazabal Rojas from Allianz G2 and also got Burhan Tekin on loan from Red Bull. The team had a fantastic season and wiith 1 race to go, Larrazabal won his second career title and the first one for Geely since 2015. Tekin finished 7th on his rookie season and he became rookie of the year, as well as contributing significantly to the team's first win of the double. In 2017, Larrazabal was retained and Aidan McKay came on loan from McLaren. 2037 saw the team becoming even more dominant, with Larrazabal winning his second succesive title, McKay finishing 2nd and the team winning its second succesive double, thus establishing themselves as the powerhouse of the series. In 2038, Geely signed Charles Lauvergne on loan from Aramco and retained McKay. Lauvergne won the team's third consecutive title, defeating Robbie Holzman who was signed by Venturi and was tipped to dominate the series, in what was seen as a huge upset. McKay finished third, helping the team win their third double in a row.

## 2039-present: Title drought

Both Lauvergne and McKay moved to Formula Earth after the succesful 2038 season, and Geely signed Casey King and Sebastian Lindgren on loan from Campos Repsol. King, who had shown promise with Saudia, started in a weak manner, but did finish 6th and scored the team's only win in what was a major setback for the team. Lindgren had an even worse start, but recovered enough points and scored a podium and finished 12th in the standings. Geely got enough points to finish 3rd in the standings. The duo was retained for 2040, but the team slipped down to 6th, King did score the team's only win and finished 7th, but Lindgren struggled badly on his second season at the team and finished all the way down to 17th.

## Notable Drivers

* Andelko Peric (2020, 2025)
* Simone Cimorelli (2020)
* Li Sin (2021)
* Jason Leung (2021)
* Xi Zao (2021)
* Doug Tosser-Schmidt (2022, 2026, 2028, 2030)
* Mario Leduc (2022, 2025)
* Saulius Sudzius (2023)
* Andrei Aimansha (2023)
* Antoine Robespierre (2024)
* Josephin Yashin (2024)
* Francesco Virgolini (2026-2030)
* Sake Okasas (2027)
* Carlos Sainz Jr. (2029)
* Suresh Bhandari (2031-2032)
* Kobus Botha (2031)
* Farid Esmaeilzadeh (2032)
* Emilio Guerra (2033)
* Roman Massey (2033)
* Onni Korhonen (2034)
* Oliver Robinson (2034-2035)
* Shawn Ling (2035)
* Miguel Angel Larrazabal Rojas (2036-2037)
* Burhan Tekin (2036)
* Aidan McKay (2037-2038)
* Charles Lauvergne (2038)
* Casey King (2039-present)
* Sebastian Lindgren (2039-present)