“You are Italian, right?” – Fans react as Daniil Kvyat announces WEC appointment with Prema Racing
Daniil Kvyat is all set to return to competitive racing with Prema.
Daniil Kvyat Via Motorsports.com
Former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat has had a tumultuous racing career thus far. He made his debut with Scuderia Torro Rosso in 2014 and was promoted to the senior Red Bull team after just 1 year in the sport, replacing a Ferrari-bound Sebastian Vettel. Kvyat had a decent first season with Red Bull, he finished 7th in the standings, ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Owing several unsatisfactory performances and a tendency to wreck his car, Kvyat was relegated back to Torro Rosso mid-way through 2016. He stayed with the Faenza based team till the end of 2017 following which he was dropped by the Red Bull F1 program. The Russian spent 2018 as a reserve driver for Ferrari and got the opportunity to return to Torro Rosso in 2019.
He completed a second stint with the team and stuck with them through their rebranding to Alpha Tauri. For the 2021 season, the team chose to not renew his contract in order to make space for debutant, Yuki Tsunoda. Since his departure from F1, Kvyat has tried his luck in the NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series. He also served as the reserve driver for Alpine F1 in 2021 alongside current Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu.
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Twitter Reacts to Daniil Kvyat’s future competitive undertakings
In a recent post on social media, Kvyat announced his appointment with Team Prema as a driver for the World Endurance Championship endeavor. “Very happy to be joining @PREMA_Team in World Endurance Championship in season 2023! I’m very excited to be part of it and very motivated to give my absolute best to try to put ourselves in the top positions.” he said in his post confirming the news.
Fans on the internet were quick to react to Kvyat’s announcement. Most comments were positive and supportive, although some fans inquired he would still race with Team Hezeberg in the Cup Series. Notably, this isn’t Kvyat’s first attempt at joining the WEC. He was set to race for G-Drive Racing in the LMP2 class in the WEC in 2022 before G-Drive withdrew their entry as a response to sanctions put on Russian athletes by the FIA due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kvyat’s return to competitive racing is certainly long-awaited. It is still unclear whether the Russian driver intends to continue competing in NASCAR as well as the WEC or completely commit to the endurance league. Kvyat’s fans are hoping for his return to Formula One. With the driver market in a constant state of anarchy during the ‘Silly-season’ his return, a few years down the line might even be a possibility
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Vihaan Sharma
(65 Articles Published)