NEW BIREL DRIVER

KAZUYA ISHII ALSO JOINS THE KF1 WITH BIREL MOTORSPORT

THE JAPANESE DRIVER WILL BE ENGAGED IN THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP, IN THE WORLD CUP AND IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE TOP CATEGORY.

Birel Motorsport has confirmed its policy in favour of the Asian market by awarding an ‘official driver’ contract to the best talents who stood out in the various national championships. Thanks to this initiative drivers of the calibre of Umegaki and Hattori have joined Birel’s racing team in the past; the driver chosen for 2008 will be 17-year-old Kazuya Ishii.
Birel Pacific has always been keeping an eye on Ishii, who started to race when he was 10 and conquered the national Kids Kart title during his first season.
Ishii went on to win various titles in the Yamaha SL Series and was noticed by Toyota (in his capacity as semi-official driver), which supported him when he went on to race for the 100 Ica in 2005. The young driver from Kyoto repaid the trust he was given by winning the category’s title in the All Japan championship and the Cik-Fia Asia Pacific Championship. In 2006 he became an official driver for the Toyota T.D.P Challenge Team and raced in the FA, although in terms of results he had a rather unlucky season.
At the end of 2006 the T.D.P –Yamaha team entrusted him to Birel Pacific Motorsport and already in the first race with the new team, the CIK-FIA Asia Pasific Championship - FA at Macau, he managed to climb the 3rd step of the podium. In 2007 he earned direct support from lame and he started to gain experience in KF1 in the European championship with the Savani Competition team.
For 2008 he received many offers for a debut in motor-racing in Japan, but when the possibility of racing in the International season with the direct support of Birel Motorsport materialised he had no doubt about signing a contract which had been his dream since when he had started to race.
Ishii’s engagement in KF1 will include the three races of the European Championship, the World Cup and the World Championship.