Daniel Abt replaces Kevin Korjus
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Daniel Abt will replace Kevin Korjus at Tech 1 alongside Jules Bianchi for the rest of the season.
Abt ended the GP3 championship in the runner-up position at Monza. Korjus has had a tough year in Formula Renault 3.5 off the back of a promising 2011 campaign including three wins.
Press release from Tech 1:
Daniel Abt, who clinched the runner-up spot in the GP3 Series last weekend at Monza, is replacing Kevin Korjus in the Tech 1 Racing team in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for the rest of the season. The 19-year-old German’s mission will be to help the French squad clinch the drivers’ and teams’ titles.
Tech 1 Racing is in the running for both titles in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. It is leading the teams’ championship, and in the drivers’ Jules Bainchi is currently in third place only six points behind the leader.
In agreement with Gravity Sport Management, Kevin Korjus and Tech 1 Racing have ceased their collaboration. “We really need to evaluate Kevin Korjus in another environment in different conditions,” explains Gwenael Lagrue, the Gravity Sport Management drivers’ programme manager. “The collaboration between Gravity Sport Management, Tech 1 Racing and Kevin has been a fruitful one with three victories and five podium finishes. This decision doesn’t call into question the confidence we have in the team, which is again fighting for the two titles this year. Tech 1 Racing has proved its potential for several years now, and it goes without saying that our organization will entrust one of our drivers to it in the future, as has been the case over the past few years, in either Formula Renault 2.0 or in the Formula 3.5 Series.”
Daniel Abt, the 2009 Formula Masters Champion, second in Formula 3 Allemand in 2010 and runner-up in the GP3 Series this year, will make his Formula Renault 3.5 series debut this coming weekend on the Hungaroring.
“We’re very happy to welcome Daniel Abt to our team,” says a delighted Simon Abadie, the Tech 1 Racing team manager. “Last year Daniel tested the old Formula Renault 3.5 in the end-of-season practice sessions. He has to find his marks in a very short space of time with this new car and get used to the DRS, the start procedure for this type of single-seater, and the pit stops. So he must take full advantage of every second of track time in the new car to gather experience.”
“Daniel Abt’s results speak for themselves. He’s an intelligent guy who’s a strong finisher, and who knows how to manage a championship. He’s exactly the type of driver we need for the end of the season to clinch the drivers’ title with Jules Bianchi – and the teams’ award. Abt has had a great year in the GP3 Series, and he’s got what it takes to be on the pace in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series straight away. We’re going to do everything possible to help him get used to the car, the championship and the team. It’s a very big challenge and that dovetails with our ambitions for the end of the season. We want to win both titles.”
Vainio and Kiss Pal will also race in Hungaroring.
A bit of a shame for Korjus, but he was having a terrible season. Let’s hope he gets a better opportunity next year.
@zolly Good, let’s hope he can who what he’s capable of in the rest of the year.
I’m really disappointed with this.
He hasn’t been great but he hasn’t been terrible either. Bianchi is 4 years older than him with much more experience having raced and tested pretty much everywhere. He’s barely had 10 races, give the guy a chance, especially since he obviously has speed.
Korjus has struggled this season, but he’s frequently been let down by bad qualifying performances and mechanical problems. And Tech-1 seem to have been giving Bianchi a disproportionate amount of attention. I still think Korjus can make it in Formula 1, and I hope to see him there soon.
@prisoner-monkeys Couldn’t agree more.
@enigma – Of course, he’s probably going to need a budget and an opening. He’s done very well so far – there’s not a whole lot of Estonian influence in motorsport (except in the WRC; it’s a shame we’ll never find out just how far Markko Martin could have gone). But Korjus is just nineteen, so I think he’s got plenty of time to get his act together. I could maybe see him at Sauber if an opening came up.
There’s quite a few changes for the next race, then:
With the last change on the #FR35 Series grid, you may need the provisionnal entry list. Here it is! #WSR pic.twitter.com/36CMksxW
— WorldSeriesbyRenault (@WSR_Live) September 13, 2012
Watching race 1 from the Hungaroring, and it’s a bit surprising to see all those GP3 front-runners down at the back. A nice scrap is going on between Vainio and Pal Kiss, but it’s for 20th place… Given the impact Antonio Felix da Costa has made (not immediately, though) I was perhaps expecting a bit more. Another sign that the 3.5 field’s stronger now than in GP2?
Sam Bird could do with grabbing some more places and points before the end – his title rivals are looking comfortable up at the front. He’s probably wishing he still had the double-DRS he was trying on the Mercedes…
Another sign that the 3.5 field’s stronger now than in GP2?
Perhaps, but you should also bear in mind that the GP3 cars and the FR3.5 cars are vastly different. For one, the FR3.5 cars are considerably more powerful (it’s such a big step up from GP3 to GP2/FR3.5 that next year’s GP3 cars will have almost 200bhp extra just to make the transition more manageable), and the extra levels of downforce mean they need to be driven much differently.
And at the same time, the newcomers – Abt, Pal Kiss, Vainio – have had no experience of driving these cars until this weekend.
@prisoner-monkeys Korjus is a Lotus junior driver alongside Óscar Tunjo, Esteban Ocon, and the injured Richie Stanaway. If he can improve his performances, he can contend for a Lotus seat.
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