Day: October 31, 2026

Starting a new motor-racing team requires more than entering cars in a championship. A new organisation must secure drivers, equipment, staff, premises and funding before its first race. In junior single-seater racing, those needs can be especially demanding because teams operate within tight commercial structures and compete across several countries. The 2012 Auto GP World Series, for example, had seven rounds and 14 races across Europe, Africa, South America and the United States. It also used 550-bhp V8-powered cars and ran alongside the World Touring Car Championship. Against this setting, Virtuosi Racing entered the series in 2012, with Declan Martin Lohan providing the business side of a partnership with Andy Roche and Paul Devlin.

The partnership predated Virtuosi’s formation. Roche and Devlin had worked together at Super Nova Racing, where Roche held senior management and engineering roles, and Devlin worked as chief mechanic. Motor Sport Magazine reported that the pair approached Lohan in 2009 about becoming involved in racing. Lohan had a property background and was already interested in motorsport, but the banking crisis had made conventional financing difficult. Lohan had substantial assets, but banks were not prepared to provide funding against them at the time. Instead, the three developed a model based on keeping fixed costs low and avoiding unnecessary purchases. When Virtuosi UK was announced in January 2012, Racecar described Lohan as the businessman behind the new Auto GP entry, with Roche and Devlin responsible for team management and technical work.

The division of responsibilities was relatively clear. Roche brought long experience in managing racing teams, while Devlin had worked as a mechanic and technical staff member. Lohan concentrated on financial planning, sponsorship and the commercial decisions needed to keep the operation running. Motor Sport Magazine later reported that Lohan questioned whether equipment needed to be bought at all, rather than rented when possible. Trucks were rented for race weekends, a race trailer was sourced, and the team initially rented premises month to month. Lohan said the aim was to avoid debt and make the team pay its own way. This approach became part of the organisation’s early operating model, rather than simply a short-term response to its launch.

The first season exposed the practical problems facing a new entrant. Virtuosi entered Auto GP in 2012, with Pål Varhaug as its principal driver. Motor Sport Magazine reported that, shortly before the team’s first competitive appearance at Monza, the team was still working to secure its driver and the associated financial package. Varhaug’s season contract was worth €500,000. Lohan required an initial €65,000 payment, followed by the remaining €435,000 over the race season, before agreeing to the arrangement. The decision came shortly before the Monza event, leaving little time to prepare. The team’s launch was therefore tied directly to securing the commercial terms required to put a car on the grid.

The result at Monza gave the new organisation an immediate competitive result. Varhaug won the second race after starting from the reverse grid, giving Virtuosi its first Auto GP victory at its first meeting. The 2012 championship eventually consisted of 14 races, with Varhaug taking three wins during the season. He finished second in the drivers’ standings with 183 points, behind Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, while Virtuosi finished fourth in the teams’ championship with 198 points. Varhaug also won races at the Hungaroring and Sonoma. These results gave the new team a measurable record in its first season. They provided income that helped its financial position.

The financial work did not end when the first results arrived. Motor Sport Magazine reported that Lohan, Roche and Devlin also bought cars at auctions and sold them on to help balance the team’s books. The same account said they continued to rent premises while aiming eventually to operate from their own factory. This detail matters because it shows the founders treated Virtuosi as a business requiring its own cash flow, rather than relying solely on the initial backing used to establish it. Lohan’s contribution was therefore tied to day-to-day financial choices, including equipment use, premises, sponsorship and driver funding. Roche and Devlin remained responsible for areas closer to the sporting and technical operation.

Virtuosi’s early Auto GP programme also developed beyond its original entry. In 2013, Autosport reported that the team would support a separate Comtec by Virtuosi entry, while its own programme continued. Lohan, identified by Autosport as the team owner, explained that the size and power of the Auto GP cars made operating a third car directly less attractive. The decision illustrates the practical limits the organisation placed on expansion. In 2014, Virtuosi finished second in the Auto GP teams’ championship, with Andrea Roda fourth in the drivers’ standings and winning at the Red Bull Ring. The team’s early results helped establish a competitive base before it moved into GP2 management.

Lohan’s earlier hospitality experience also formed part of the wider business record surrounding the team’s creation. Before entering motorsport, he had operated property and hospitality businesses and, according to information supplied for his biography, opened An Poitin Still in Hendon, London. He has described it as the first traditional-looking Irish pub in Hendon and said he sold the business in 1998 after it became successful. Contemporary location records confirm that the premises at 407-411 Hendon Way were formerly known as An Poitin Still or Potcheen Still. The property later operated under other names. This experience in running a customer-facing business provides context for Lohan’s later focus on costs, cash commitments and operating resources within Virtuosi.

The formation of Virtuosi Racing therefore brought together three different professional roles. Roche and Devlin supplied established racing and technical experience, while Lohan handled much of the commercial and financial side. The team’s 2012 launch was followed by Varhaug’s three victories and a fourth-place teams’ finish, before the organisation reached second in the Auto GP teams’ championship in 2014. Its later move into GP2 and Formula 2 would take the organisation into a different level of competition. The foundation, however, was built around decisions made during its early years, including limiting expenditure, renting equipment, securing driver funding and keeping operating commitments under control. Declan Martin Lohan’s role began within that business structure.