Because you’re Korjus!
Born on January 9, 1993, Koiranen Bros Motorsport’s seventeen-year old star, Kevin Korjus, claimed the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship at Silverstone today, finishing just third behind Epsilon Euskadi’s Javier Tarancon and Interwetten’s Luciano Bacheta. The Estonian succeeds Albert Costa in the record books as the youngest driver to claim a Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 title.
There was much to play for for Kevin Korjus at Silverstone today. In what would be the championship decider, the Estonian lined up for his fourth pole position of the season ahead of Tech 1 Racing’s Aaro Vainio, Javier Tarancon, Luciano Bacheta and Epsilon Euskadi’s Carloz Sainz Junior. The only driver likely to have upset Kevin Korjus title hopes, Tech 1 Racing’s Arthur Pic, started twentieth.
Intent on avoiding the inevitable tussles Korjus made a clean getway, while Aaro Vainio didn’t fare quite as well, finding himself overtaken by Tarancon, Bacheta and Team Firstair’s Richard Singleton. The Finn finished the first lap in fifth position.
At the start of the race, Korjus’s first place came under threat from Tarancon, but the Estonian was able to resist the Spaniard’s pressure. Meanwhile, Luciano Bacheta, Richard Singleton and Aaro Vainio put on a magnificent show, before Richard Singleton showed his mettle to steal third place. Starting from 20th, from the word go Arthur Pic made a beeline for the front of the pack sitting in eleventh place after just four laps.
Javier Tarancon continued to chip away at Kevin Korjus, but the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship leader was shrewd enough to open the door to the Epsilon Euskadi driver on lap five. Javier Tarancon was now in the lead ahead of Korjus, Singleton, Bacheta and Vainio.
The highlight of the second part of the race was the ever more impressive comeback staged by Arthur Pic as, lap on lap, the Frenchman clawed back lost ground, Epsilon Euskadi’s Alex Riberas, and Koiranen Bros Motorsport’s Bart Hylkema and Miki Weckstrom all succumbing French driver who eventually finished in eighth place.
In this, just his fourth race in the class, Javier Tarancon celebrates his first Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 win. Meanwhile in third, having let Luciano Bacheta through in the closing laps, Kevin Korjus did all that was required of him to secure the championship. At just 17, he becomes the youngest Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship yet, claiming a purse of 500,000 Euros towards his next season in Formula Renault 3.5 Series.
Quote:
Kevin Korjus: “It really hasn’t sunk in yet, I think it’ll take a little time. I wasn’t taking any risks today; I kept control and let the others through when I needed to. The most important thing was finishing. The whole team has worked incredibly hard this season, we haven’t had the slightest technical problem, and if I’ve retired, it’s been my own fault. I still don’t know what I’ll be doing in 2011; we always said we’d get as far as Barcelona and then take a view, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do!”
Official Renault Sport Press Release