Epsilon Euskadi annouces 2010 drivers line up

Albert Costa and Keisuke Kunimoto will contest this season’s Formula Renault 3.5 Series together with the EPSILON EUSKADI Team.

The Spaniard Albert Costa, current Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion, and the Japanese Keisuke Kunimoto, Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix winner in 2008, will join forces under the EPSILON EUSKADI Team to fight for the 2010 World Series Formula Renault 3.5 title, previous step to Formula 1.

Albert Costa will make his debut in the 3.5 series with both the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and the WEC (West European Cup) titles under his wing. And he will do it together with the Team that contributed to his 2009 success: the EPSILON EUSKADI Team. Persistent, hard-worker and skilled driver, Costa begun racing formula cars in 2007 and within three years clinched the title on his own merits. Junior karting champion, the 19-years-old has taken all the customary steps in his racing career and is ready for the challenge that may get him, some day, to Formula 1.

Recently turned 21, Keisuke Kunimoto is one of the most hardened drivers on the grid. Japan Formula 3 runner-up in 2008, he won the Japanese Formula Challenge in 2007 and the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix in 2008. Kunimoto is aming now for the international racing panorama’s confirmation in a demanding and technically close championship. And he will do it as a member of one of the most prestigious teams, the EPSILON EUSKADI, together with whom he raced two GPs last season.

A combination of experience and youth in order to maintain its prestige in the category and, why not, win again a championship achieved for the last time in 2005 with Robert Kubica, current Formula 1 driver.

EPSILON EUSKADI Team’s 2010 season will kick off on Sunday 28th February with some private tests before joining the rest of the teams for the first official collective tests that will take place in Barcelona on the 2nd and 3rd March.

Albert Costa - #15: “My relationship with Epsilon Euskadi begun by 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. Mi first tests in Montmeló went very well but this is getting serious now what 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”.

Keisuke Kunimoto - #16: “It will be a great experience to contend for the 2010 season within the Epsilon Euskadi Team drivers, one of the most prestigious teams in the Series. I have already experience with this the car from last year but every season is a new challenge. I hope that the 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”.

Albert Fábrega – Team Manager: “At a technical level, last season we started a progression that culminated this year with, among other things, bringing Jesús Sánchez on board as race chief engineer. Keisuke joined us for the final two meetings last year and showed a great progression. And Albert, from the very beginning with the 3.5, showed an enormous ability adapting to the new car and a potential of being one of the main characters of the season. A perfect technical and drivers’ combination that should bring us back to the front positions and ultimately the victory”.

Joan Villadelprat – President: “We were so pleased when Albert won the 2 liters’ championship. Both for the title itself and to be able to keep our promise: give him a World Series car to contest the 2010 season. This makes us enormously proud. But also, to continue with a project initiated by 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”.