Keisuke Kunimoto Manages Fifth Position At Brno

First Formula Renault 3.5 and Eurocup qualifying sessions and races got underway today under perfect weather conditions. The fact of being the first occasion for the Czech track to host a World Series meeting resulted in the drivers' hierarchy to diverge with respect previous meetings in both categories. The EPSILON team wasn't an exception and today Keisuke Kunimoto, fifth, and Alex Riberas were the spearheads for the Formula Renault 3.5 and Eurocup teams respectively.

Keisuke Kunimoto Credit: Epsilon Euskadi

Unlike prior meetings, the first ones going out on track today were the Formula Renault 3.5 drivers. The EPSILON driver, Keisuke Kunimoto was one of the fastest men in this morning's qualifying session and, although holding the pole position five minutes to the end, finished the session in fourth position. The Japanese driver, starting from the second row, found himself pushed back but quickly reacted to recover positions. From then on, Kunimoto comfortably drove in the fifth position until the end to get his first six championship points. Albert Costa struggled a little more and, starting from the 20th position, considerably accused the flu he has been suffering for almost a week. The 20-years-old driver vigorously started but half way through the race started losing strength and positions to end up the race, exhausted, in the 18th position. Esteban Guerrieri was the race winner ahead of Brandon Hartley and Anton Nebilitskiy.

Highly troubled qualifying session for the Formula Renault 2.0 with plenty of yellow and red flags making its appearance preventing the EPSILON drivers to get the most out of their two sets of new tires. Alex Riberas managed third position ahead of Otegui, seventh, Olivé, ninth, and Venturini, who could only get one clean lap around the track before spinning out consequently finishing up his qualifying session. Race was expected to be hard fought and Alex Riberas paid off his inexperience with a weak start. However, the young rookie didn't allow himself any further mistakes and kept a constantly increasing pace lap by lap to en up in sixth position and setting the second fastest lap of the race. Miguel Otegui, starting from the seventh position, was involved in an accident at the start and had to withdraw from the race with a side and rear suspension broken. Meanwhile, Genís Olivé avoided the accident by an inch given his bad start, allowing him to finish, although in eight position behind Riberas, but adding up valuable championship points to his account. Starting from the last position, very few could Giovanni Venturini do blocked by slower drivers until the end of the race when he managed two seconds faster lap times. Pic was a clear race winner followed by Kout and Bacheta.

Tomorrow, all drivers will have another chance to prove their value in the second race of the weekend of the Czech Republic fourth meeting of the season.

#16 Keisuke Kunimoto - 5th, 6 Championship points: "It was good to see myself in front, fighting, and keeping a good pace from the beginning until the end. The start wasn't bad but, trying to defend my position at the first corner, other drivers overtook me from the outside. I fought back and recovered a few positions but the leaders had already opened a gap. Using the low aerodynamics configuration, conditions weren't easy but I am quite confident for tomorrow since the car's performance will be a lot better."

#15 Albert Costa - 18th, 26 Championship points: "The qualifying session was hard but the race was even harder. I went for it and improved a few positions but the final 25 minutes were really complicated because I was getting weaker and weaker… I will try to rest as much as possible and hope to feel better tomorrow. We will have a second chance and I don't want to waste it."

Albert Fabrega - Team Manager FR3.5: "We keep a bittersweet taste after today. We are quite satisfied with Keisuke's performance. He did a great qualifying session and good lap times throughout the race. We hope this will give him a confidence boost to go for it again tomorrow. Albert has been sick for almost a week and he is not under the best conditions for racing at top level. He started strongly and catch up but he lost strength and finished up extremely exhausted. We will see how he feels tomorrow."

#4 Alex Riberas - 6th, 12 Championship points: "I am happy with today's qualifying and race. I kept a good pace from the beginning to the end, improving my lap times lap by lap. The car was getting better too and I was feeling confident. It was a shame that I made a mistake at the start but tomorrow, starting from the same position, I am not going to make the same mistakes. We have a newer set of tires for tomorrow and, together with the gathered experience from today, I am feeling really confident."

#1 Genís Olivé - 7th, 19 Championship points: "From the beginning I knew it was going to be difficult and it was. With so many flags we could only do two flying laps with one of the two sets of new tires. And the race wasn't easy either. I didn't do a good start but this may have saved me from the crash. After the safety car I opened a gap and made positions up until I got to Alex but he had a better pace and couldn't overtake him. It is not the position I hoped for but at least I added championship points up."

#3 Giovanni Venturini - 15th, 11 Championship points: "Starting so far behind, my only option was to get as many positions as possible at the start. But I didn't and spent almost all race behind slower drivers. Once I overtook them, I was able to go two seconds faster but it was already too late. Tomorrow I will be starting from the rear again but I hope to manage a better result."

#2 Miguel Otegui - DNF, 7 Championship points: "Today was a day to forget. At the qualifying session, we could only complete two real fast laps and my race finished right at the start. The championship is truly complicated now but considering how tight it is, it will be important to get some points tomorrow."

Imanol Zubikarai - Team Manager FR2.0: "The best we get from today is that the car works well; it is competitive and is able to endure good pace. Now we are just missing a bit of luck. The heads of the coin was Riberas, who did an almost perfect day and tomorrow has another chance. Tails was for Miguel, who couldn't complete even one lap, and Giovanni being blocked at the back. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully we would have got over our bad luck quota."

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