Kevin Korjus has signed with Koiranen Motorsport for his move to the GP3 Series this year.
The promising Estonian was forced to step away from Formula Renault 3.5 after a difficult 2012 campaign that saw him slump to tenth in the standings having come an impressive sixth in his rookie season the year before.
Having looked to GP3 as his next move for 2013, the 20-year-old has now rejoined Koiranen according to the Estonian daily Ohtuleht. He previously competed for the Finnish squad in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, winning the title in 2010.
After problems with the Tech 1 team in FR3.5 last year where his car struggled for pace and reliability, Korjus? manager Raivo Tamm said in the report that his ties with Koiranen would make it easier to have control over the team and find solutions to problems. Korjus had also been negotiating with teams? champions Lotus GP.
Korjus has been backed by Gravity Sports Management and the Lotus F1 Team recently and retains those links despite losing their financial backing.
PaddockScout Comment
By Peter Allen
Korjus went into last year’s FR3.5 season as one of the favourites, but a lacklustre campaign has seen him lose funding from Gravity and Lotus. The move to GP3 will be seen by many as a step backwards, but the championship’s newly upgraded car will bring it quite close to FR3.5 in terms of performance, and it provides Korjus with experience of the Pirelli tyres.
The choice of series seems like the right one, but is the choice of team a good one? On the plus side, he knows Koiranen well and they know him. But do they know GP3? They’re no fools, as their FR2.0 record shows, but they’ve never run cars at this level. Making his debut in the series with them could be a big risk.
The potential is clearly there within Korjus, but he needs to quickly dust himself down and get back to winning ways. I personally hope he can manage it, but it could be tough in what is shaping up to be a competitive GP3 field.