A new Formula 1 venture based in Asia is set to apply for a spot on the grid from 2025 or 2026, the new team submitting its expression of interest proposal before the FIA's May 15 deadline.
Named LKY SUNZ, the new team boldly aims to be a "youth-focused" outfit and a "disruptor" in the sport, and says it has secured backing from the US-based sports fund, Legends Advocates Sports Group, as well as from private individuals and businesses in Asia.
The team's name was inspired by its origins, with LKY short for Lucky, which it says is a nod to its Asian heritage, and SUNZ representing the sun, which rises from the east.
LKY SUNZ plans to build and assemble its cars in Europe, but the team aims to build a state-of-the-art net zero green energy-powered factory complex in Southeast Asia by 2025-2026.
Benjamin Durand (right), one of the co-founders of LKY SUNZ, seen here with former Panthera Team Asia colleague Michel Orts.
A familiar name appears on the outfit's organizational chart, that of its co-founder Benjamin Durand, the man who managed Russian billionaire Boris Rotenberg's SMP Racing outfit in the WEC from 2013 to 2016, but who was also previously associated with the Panthera Team Asia F1 effort.
Furthermore, Durand's co-founding associates – chairman Paul Fleming and Andrew Pyrah – were also both involved in the Panthera project.
Durand said the team’s approach is to blend "youth culture and racing" that would disrupt the sport, adding that investors shared that vision.
"The sport’s popularity has grown exponentially and every current stakeholder in the sport has been responsible for that, but our guiding principle is to bring something different into the sport to appeal to new audiences," Durand said.
"By being the only team operating outside the traditional F1 corridors and developing bespoke programmes to attract talent from under-represented communities, we can bring a diversity of thought yet to be seen in Formula One.
"We of course aim to be competitive on the track but we also commit to entertaining fans off the track.
"To support our plans, we have already onboarded an impressive team of motorsport executives, music and entertainment industry experts and creatives who will help bring this vision to life."
The sun indeed rises in the east, but for LKY SUNZ it may well set permanently in the west in the coming month, near the headquarters of the FIA in Paris.
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