WSR: Kunimoto joins Epsilon Euskadi

Japanese racer Keisuke Kunimoto will join Albert Costa at Epsilon Euskadi’s Formula Renault 3.5 squad this season.

The 21-year-old Kunimoto drove for the Basque squad in two rounds of the series last season, scoring a best result of 13th at the Nurburgring, alongside a campaign in Formula Nippon and an appearance in the Navi Team Goh Porsche RS Spyder at the Le Mans 24 Hours. In 2008 he finished as runner-up in the Japanese F3 Championship and stunned the world’s top F3 drivers by winning the prestigious Macau GP.

“It will be a great experience to contend the 2010 season with Epsilon Euskadi, one of the most prestigious teams in the Series,” said Kunimoto. “I already have experience with this the car from last year but every season is a new challenge. I hope that having raced in other championships will help me to go fast as well. I am very excited to be driving alongside Albert Costa and I can't wait to get out on track. I am a very competitive person and I will do everything I can to bring good results back home”.

Spanish driver, Costa, graduates with Epsilon to the 3.5 Series having won the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and Western European Cup with the team last season.

“My relationship with Epsilon Euskadi began at the end of 2007 and last year we won the FR 2.0 and WEC championship titles both in drivers’ and teams’ categories. But we have to keep moving forward and I am very excited to get started already with the World Series’ preseason.

“This is a highly physically demanding car and, therefore, I spent all winter training. My first tests in Montmeló went very well but this is getting serious now and that gives me a motivation boost. I am eager to find myself out on the track against the rest of the drivers, especially since many of them have won other titles. Without a doubt, this will be an interesting championship and, as always, I will give my best”.

“We were so pleased when Albert won the 2 litre championship, both for the title itself and to be able to keep our promise to give him a World Series car to contest the 2010 season,” said Epsilon Euskadi president Joan Villadelprat. “This makes us enormously proud. But also, to continue with a project initiated at the end of last year with Keisuke. They are highly competitive drivers and, together with our technical capacities, I am sure we have the right structure to win”.

Watch the World Series by Renault on Motors TV (Sky Channel 413, Virgin Media 545) in 2010.


Andy Wilkinson