Kevin Korjus (born 9 January 1993)[1] is an Estonian racing driver.

Kevin Korjus
Nationality Estonian
Born (1993-01-09) 9 January 1993 (age 31)
Tallinn, Estonia
European Le Mans Series (GTC) career
Debut season2014
Current teamART Grand Prix
Racing licence FIA Gold
Car number98
Starts5
Wins0
Poles0
Fastest laps1
Previous series
2013
20112012
2011
2010
200910
2008
2008
2008
GP3 Series
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
Auto GP
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC
Formula Renault 2.0 Finland
Formula Renault 2.0 NEZ
Formula Renault 2.0 Estonia
Championship titles
2010Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0

Career

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Karting

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Kevin Korjus was born in Tallinn, the son of former sidecarcross racer Aivar Korjus. He made his pan-European karting début in 2006, competing in the Rotax Max Euro Challenge for the AGS Racing team. He finished sixth overall in the championship standings, 25 points behind the champion Jack Hawksworth. As well as that, he finished thirteenth in the Challenge finals, as well as being Estonian champion at Junior level. 2007 saw Korjus win the Estonian title once again, and he also picked up the Baltic Junior title and was the winner of the Rotax Max finals. He did however finish runner-up by two points to Mats van den Brand in the Euro Challenge. In 2008, Korjus competed in the Junior classes in the pan-European championship, but progressed to the Senior class in his local championships. In the Junior championships, he won the Euro Challenge and was second to Facundo Chapur in the Challenge Finals and Rotax Max Grand Finals at La Conca, Italy, 2008.

Formula Renault 2.0

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While completing his career in karts, Korjus also spent 2008 adjusting to single-seaters, competing in the first Finnish Formula Renault championship. Racing for the T.T. Racing Team, Korjus finished all but one race on the podium, as he finished runner-up to Jesse Krohn in the championship. Of those podiums, three were race victories that came in the final four races of the season, including a double at Ahvenisto. Korjus continued with the team into the 2009 season, but moved into the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. Korjus finished all bar one race as he finished fifth in the championship; his best result being a second-place finish at Most.[2]

Korjus stepped up to the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship for its 2010 season, and moved to the Koiranen Bros. Motorsport team. Despite qualifying on the third row for both races, Korjus won them both, becoming the first driver to win a race in the championship in the newly introduced cars designed by Barazi-Epsilon.[3][4] He is also the youngest person to win a Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season.[5]

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

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Kevin Korjus at the 2011 Nürburgring World series by Renault round after winning the race

With his results and potential in the Formula Renault series, Korjus joined the Renault Driver Development programme for the continuation of his career.[6] He was signed to drive for Formula Renault 3.5 Series team Tech 1 Racing in late 2010.[6] On April 17, 2011 he became the youngest driver to win a race in Formula Renault 3.5 Series – at 18 years 3 months and 8 days – with his victory in Monaco in 2008.[7] In 2011 season he placed sixth place overall and second in the Rookie of the Year standings, and finished the season with fastest lap, three wins and four podium finishes during the season.

Korjus began the 2012 season with Tech 1, where he was partnered with series debutant Jules Bianchi. Korjus endured a difficult season, with a string of early retirements and mechanical problems that affected his qualifying performances, though he recovered to finish on the podium in the second race at the Moscow Raceway. However, with three rounds left in the season, Korjus left Tech-1 and joined the Lotus-backed Charouz Racing System team,[8] and his place at Tech 1 was taken by GP3 series runner-up Daniel Abt.[9]

GP3 Series

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Korjus left the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at the end of the 2012 season, moving to the GP3 Series for 2013, racing for Koiranen GP.[10] He finished the season seventh overall, recording four podium, he finished in the points in 11 of the season's 16 races.

Formula One

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Korjus had his first outing in a Formula One car at the Abu Dhabi young driver test on November 16, 2011, driving a Renault R31.[11][12]

Korjus served as Lotus F1's testing and reserve driver at the 2012 Italian Grand Prix.[13] With regular driver Romain Grosjean serving a one-race ban for causing a serious accident at the Belgian Grand Prix,[14] the team promoted regular test driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio to fill Grosjean's seat for the race,[15] and Korjus was recruited to fill in the vacant reserve driver position.

European Le Mans Series

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In 2014, he moved to sports car racing, driving an ART Grand Prix McLaren MP4-12C in the European Le Mans Series.[16]

Racing record

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Career summary

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Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2008 Formula Renault 2.0 Finland T.T. Racing Team 12 3 0 4 11 290 2nd
Formula Renault 2.0 NEZ 4 0 0 0 2 55 3rd
Formula Renault 2.0 Estonia 2 0 0 0 2 40 4th
2009 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC T.T. Racing Team 16 0 0 0 1 201 5th
2010 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup Koiranen Bros. Motorsport 16 9 6 3 12 187 1st
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC 5 5 3 3 5 150 8th
2011 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Tech 1 Racing 17 3 0 1 4 120 6th
Auto GP DAMS 2 0 0 0 0 7 18th
2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Tech 1 Racing 11 0 0 0 1 69 10th
Lotus 6 0 0 0 0
Macau Grand Prix Double R Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 13th
Formula One Lotus F1 Team Reserve driver
2013 GP3 Series Koiranen GP 14 0 1 1 4 107 7th
FIA Formula 3 European Championship ThreeBond with T-Sport 3 0 0 0 0 0 30th
Macau Grand Prix Double R Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 21st
2014 European Le Mans Series - GTC ART Grand Prix 5 0 0 1 1 45 5th
Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro 5 0 0 0 2 48 8th
2015 24H Series - A6 GT Russian Team
2016 Renault Sport Trophy - Pro R-ace GP 9 1 0 0 4 111 2nd
Renault Sport Endurance Trophy 6 1 1 0 2 67 4th

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Points
2011 Tech 1 Racing ALC
1

Ret
ALC
2

1
SPA
1

Ret
SPA
2

Ret
MNZ
1

1
MNZ
2

Ret
MON
1

4
NÜR
1

3
NÜR
2

1
HUN
1

6
HUN
2

23
SIL
1

8
SIL
2

8
LEC
1

9
LEC
2

18
CAT
1

11
CAT
2

Ret
6th 120
2012 Tech 1 Racing ALC
1

Ret
ALC
2

4
MON
1

4
SPA
1

DNS
SPA
2

13
NÜR
1

14
NÜR
2

Ret
MSC
1

5
MSC
2

3
SIL
1

Ret
SIL
2

15
10th 69
Lotus HUN
1

12
HUN
2

7
LEC
1

9
LEC
2

8
CAT
1

6
CAT
2

17

Complete Auto GP Results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos Points
2011 Super Nova Racing MNZ
1
MNZ
2
HUN
1
HUN
2
BRN
1
BRN
2
DON
1
DON
2
OSC
1

10
OSC
2

5
VAL
1
VAL
2
MUG
1
MUG
2
18th 7

Complete GP3 Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 D.C. Points
2013 Koiranen GP CAT
FEA

8
CAT
SPR

2
VAL
FEA

3
VAL
SPR

6
SIL
FEA

2
SIL
SPR

9
NÜR
FEA

20†
NÜR
SPR

15
HUN
FEA

7
HUN
SPR

3
SPA
FEA

4
SPA
SPR

5
MNZ
FEA

6
MNZ
SPR

5
YMC
FEA

12
YMC
SPR

12
7th 107

References

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  1. ^ "Kevin Korjus". mediaguide.wsbyrenault.com. Renault Sport. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  2. ^ "Successful Czech adventure for NEC in MOST" (PDF). Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. Renault Sport. 2009-08-30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  3. ^ "Kevin Korjus takes first win". renault-sport.com. Renault Sport. 2010-04-17. Retrieved 2010-04-19.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Kevin Korjus takes win number 2". renault-sport.com. Renault Sport. 2010-04-18. Archived from the original on 2010-04-28. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  5. ^ Korjuse tiimi pealik esialgu poodiumikohti ei nõua Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine ERR Sport, 2011-02-21 (in Estonian)
  6. ^ a b "Kevin Korjus tegi lepingu maineka manageerimisfirmaga" (in Estonian). sport.err.ee. 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-12-29. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  7. ^ Kevin Korjus goes down in Formula Renault 3.5 Series history Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine RACECAR, 2011-04-18
  8. ^ "Formula Renault 3.5 Series". Gravity Sports Management. iRace Professional. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  9. ^ "WSR: Кевин Корьюс потерял место в Tech1" [Kevin Korjus lost Tech 1's seat] (in Russian). F1News.ru. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  10. ^ "Korjus moves to GP3 with Koiranen". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 5 February 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  11. ^ "Day2:Abu Dhabi testing". formula1blog.com. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  12. ^ "Abu Dhabi young driver test – who's fielding who?". formula1.com. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  13. ^ "Kevin Korjus". LotusF1Team.com. Lotus F1. Archived from the original on 6 December 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  14. ^ Strang, Simon; Beer, Matt (2 September 2012). "Belgian GP: Romain Grosjean gets one-race ban for start crash". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  15. ^ Monza, Keith (4 September 2012). "Jerome d'Ambrosio to stand in for Grosjean at Monza". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  16. ^ "Kevin Korjus hakkab kihutama Euroopa Le Mansi sarjas". sport.delfi.ee. Delfi. 20 February 2014. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
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Sporting positions
Preceded by Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Champion

2010
Succeeded by