Russian Time was a feeder-series racing team that, in only its second and final season in the rebranded FIA Formula 2 Championship (2017–2018), delivered one of the most emphatic team performances of the era: the inaugural 2017 FIA F2 Teams' Championship. Founded in 2013 and based in Norwich, England, the squad blazed bright and burned out fast, folding after 2018 — but its operation lived on, sold and reborn as UNI-Virtuosi Racing.
Origins — GP2 (heritage)
Before the series adopted the Formula 2 name in 2017, Russian Time competed in the GP2 Series, F1's premier feeder championship of the era. The team was established in 2013 by Igor Mazepa and Timo Rumpfkeil, entering GP2 in place of iSport International. It made an immediate mark, with Sam Bird winning a sprint race in only the team's fourth appearance, and went on to claim the 2013 GP2 Teams' Championship in its debut season — a heritage credential that predates the FIA F2 era. Through its GP2 years the operation was managed by a succession of partners, including Motopark Academy (2013), iSport International (2014) and Virtuosi Racing (2015–2016).
The FIA F2 title
When GP2 became the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2017, Russian Time carried its winning form straight into the new era. Pairing Artem Markelov with Luca Ghiotto, the team scored six wins across the season — five for Markelov, one for Ghiotto — and took the first Teams' Championship in FIA F2 history, finishing fifteen points clear of Prema Racing. Markelov, a Russian Time stalwart since 2014, finished runner-up in the 2017 F2 Drivers' Championship behind champion Charles Leclerc, amassing 210 points with five victories and seven podiums. In 2018, Markelov stayed on alongside Tadasuke Makino, but the team slipped to fourth in the standings.
Legacy → Virtuosi/Invicta
Russian Time was sold before the 2018 season finale and rebranded as UNI-Virtuosi Racing, run by Virtuosi Racing Ltd — the same outfit that had managed the team in its later GP2 years. That entry continued in F2 and, after further evolution, became part of the lineage that leads to Invicta in more recent seasons. The Russian Time name disappeared, but its competitive infrastructure and personnel formed the backbone of one of F2's enduring grid entries.
Identity
Short-lived but high-achieving, Russian Time is best remembered as a champion at both the start and the dusk of its existence: a GP2 Teams' title in its debut 2013 season, and the inaugural FIA F2 Teams' crown in 2017. It paired backing rooted in Russian motorsport with a British engineering base, and its closing chapter — the handover to Virtuosi — ensured its legacy outlasted its name.