Superleague Formula has signed its first non-European football club: the legendary Brazilian football team Flamengo joining the championship.
Flamengo joins AC Milan, FC Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Olympiacos, Borussia Dortmund and Anderlecht in the new series that will feature 750 horsepower V-12 powered single seaters displaying the colours of the world's leading football clubs.
Founded in 1895, Flamengo is one of the world's most popular football clubs with an estimated 33 million supporters. Based in Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo actually began its life as a rowing club – hence the official name of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo.
The team is one of the four clubs never to be relegated from the Brazilian First division. Its championship successes include 29 Rio de Janeiro State Championships and five Brazilian national titles. 1981 was a special highlight in Flamengo’s history for winning both the South American Championship and the World Club Championship – beating Liverpool in Tokyo.
Along with football, motorsport will join rowing, artistic gymnastics, athletics, basketball, judo, swimming, volleyball and water polo as the official sports of the club. In fact, Flamengo has also won South American championships in volleyball and basketball and actually scored the women's basketball World Championship in 1966.
"We are very proud to be part of this wonderful venture and to have the opportunity of taking our brand and our excellence in various sports to a new competitive category – motorsports - where we will surely follow our tradition to fight for the title," said club President, Márcio Braga
For Superleague Formula's debut season, six championship rounds will be staged with each race weekend featuring two races – one with a complete reverse grid.
The championship's cars are being built by Panoz/Elan Motorsports in the US. The 750-horsepower V-12 engines are being developed by MCT in the UK.
Launched in April this year, the Superleague Formula will feature more than 20 of the world football's leading rivals doing battle on top class race tracks through Europe. The addition of the Brazilian club follows from the recent signing of Germany club Borussia Dortmund and Belgium's RSC Anderlecht.
"We want to see the world's finest football clubs doing battle in Superleague Formula and the addition of Flamengo is a great step in cementing our championship as a major international competition," said Superleague Formula President and CEO, Alex Andreu.
"The club has an enormous fan base throughout South America and although the championship will only be staged in Europe during our debut year, I am sure the club's fans are going to be very keen to see their car in action on television.
"Flamengo's fans are very passionate about their team and we're really looking forward to unveiling their car at their home ground, the Estádio do Maracanã some time in the future.
"Once we have some more cars available, we'll definitely be taking Flamengo's colours to the people – we saw from the reaction at Borussia Dortmund's fan day that football supporters are really looking forward to Superleague Formula."
Flamengo's list of Brazilian football legends include Leônidas, Zizinho, Zagallo, Júnior, Adílio, Zico and Romário.
Superleague Formula Operations Director Robin Webb believes the passion of Brazilian fans will ensure the Flamengo car to be a favourite.
"We know the European fans are crazy about their football, but the South American fans take that to a higher level," said Operations Director, Robin Webb.
"When you look at the sporting history of Brazil in both football and motor racing, it is no surprise that the addition of a major club like Flamengo is a major milestone for our championship."
