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Spanish F4 champion Franco Colapinto joins Toyota Racing Series

by Ida Wood

Photo: Klaas Norg / Dutch Photo Agency

Spanish Formula 4 champion and Fernando Alonso protege Franco Colapinto will race for Kiwi Motorsport in next year’s Toyota Racing Series.

The 16-year-old Argentinian started racing cars at the end of last year, joining Drivex School for one Spanish F4 round and winning a race.

In 2019 he won 11 races on the way to the Spanish title with the team, and also joined it for a Euroformula Open cameo and two rounds in the Formula Renault Eurocup, which runs to the same Regional Formula 3 regulations as TRS.

“I left Argentina at the end of 2018 and was lucky enough to race all across Europe in 2019,? Colapinto said.

?To be heading to New Zealand in 2020 is a dream come true. The TRS championship is where many great drivers have gone on their route to the top.

?I know there is a lot for me to learn after just one season out of karts but I’m so hungry for it.

“It’s an intense few weeks but after a couple of months off after winning Spanish F4 I’m ready to go.”

Kiwi’s line-up consists entirely of Spanish F4 racers, with Colapinto’s predecessor as champion Amaury Cordeel and 2019 rival Axel Gnos in the team’s other two cars.

Sources close to Formula Scout suggest Colapinto will race in the Eurocup after his TRS campaign, although the recent move by the FIA to reduce superlicence points for the championship may lead him to a rival ‘F3’ series in Europe instead.