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Nissan driver Norman Nato has chosen to race as quantity 17 in his return to Formulation E subsequent yr as a tribute to Jules Bianchi, his fellow French racer who died seven years in the past.
Bianchi suffered critical head accidents in a crash through the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix and died 9 months later.
He raced with the quantity earlier in his profession however had quantity 71 on his automobile throughout his rookie FE marketing campaign in 2021 with Venturi, as Nyck de Vries was already utilizing 17. Now he’ll get to make use of his most well-liked quantity for his second season within the collection, as de Vries has left FE for Formulation 1.
In a social media submit Nato stated he was “pleased and proud to race below quantity 17 in FIA Formulation E”.
“This quantity means rather a lot to me. I began in karting and gained championships with the 17. Jules additionally raced in F1 with this quantity which makes it much more particular for me. Can’t wait to get began.”
The FIA allowed F1 drivers to pick out a everlasting profession quantity for the primary time in 2014. Ordinarily a driver’s quantity is freed up for one more racer to pick out if it goes unused for 2 full consecutive seasons. Nevertheless within the days after Bianchi’s dying the FIA introduced the quantity had been retired from use in F1.
The quantity 17 was Bianchi’s fourth selection. He expressed a preference for numbers seven, 27 and 77, which had been taken by Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas respectively.
Bianchi’s father Philippe indicated he supported Nato’s decision.
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Formulation E
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