Alfa Romeo Racing and Virtek join forces

After announcing the arrival of Valtteri Bottas for the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship, Alfa Romeo Racing has now confirmed a new partnership with Virtek.

Virtek Vision, which is the market leader in laser projection and quality inspection solutions globally, was founded in 1986. The Canadian company is based in Waterloo and has sales and service coverage in the Americas, across Europe, and in Asia Pacific Region.

The new partnership is believed to help Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN take a step forward in the field of composites in the near future. With its vast experiences, the Waterloo-based company will provide advanced vision-based laser technologies and engineering services to assist with the composite assembly and carbon fibre layup of parts for the Swiss team’s cars.

Improving composites processes, reducing time to assembly and improving accuracy to boost performance will further aid in producing the highest quality race cars.

The Virtek Iris™ 3D Vision Positioning System, which will be used by the team’s composites specialists, locates parts in 3D space and then boldly and precisely projects a laser template onto the mould or part to guide operators through the fabrication process. Virtek’s integrated FlashAlign™ technology eliminates the need for technicians to align laser targets manually, thereby streamlining the initial set-up process and improving productivity and further reducing costs for materials by helping to eliminate scrap.

Alfa Romeo’s Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur commented: “The regulation changes in 2022 will be a pivotal moment in the history of Formula One, and our new partnership with Virtek will allow us to take this step with confidence.

„Their innovative systems will make the production of C42 parts more streamlined, precise and efficient, reducing any waste of time, materials and resources. In a world where every marginal gain is crucial, this is a big help – especially as we embark on such an ambitious project as our 2022 contender is,” Vasseur concluded.

Commenting on the announcement, Dietmar Wennemer, CEO & President, Virtek Vision International Inc said: “We are very excited to win the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team as a customer in the very innovative world of Formula One racing. We continue to innovate in the carbon fibre overlay and semi-automated assembly space that offers faster and higher quality prototyping and manufacturing capabilities.

"This capability will allow the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team to optimize their race cars and tune them quickly for enhanced aerodynamic performance, while keeping the drivers safe. We are looking forward to working with the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team to utilize our future product enhancements, like our newest innovation ‘Iris™ ActiveTrack’ that will make the work of the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN technicians even easier.”