11/11/2013
NEWS STORY
19-year-old Daniil Kvyat has completed the necessary mileage to obtain the superlicence he needs in order to contest the 2014 season with Toro Rosso.
The Faenza outfit has revealed that the 2013 GP3 champion completed 102 laps at Misano on Friday - in a 2011 car - and thereby, having completed the required mileage, qualified for his licence.
Consequently, as planned, he will join the team in Austin and Sao Paolo where he will drive in FP1 on both Fridays: in the USA he will take over Jean-Eric Vergne’s car, while in Brazil, he will replace Daniel Ricciardo.
Though there remains scepticism in terms of his readiness, speaking in Abu Dhabi (before Kvyat had won the GP3 title) team boss Franz Tost is confident that the youngster is the real deal.
"He will go out on Friday in America and in Sao Paulo and of course we will have winter time, where he has to do a lot of work with physical training, mental training, then working on the simulator to prepare him as good as possible for the next season," said the Austrian. "I'm convinced he will do a good job because he is a very high-skilled driver. Apart from (GP3) he showed a very good performance in Formula 3 - in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship - where he won the last race in Zandvoort, starting from the pole position.
"If I remember correctly, his first race, in Hockenheim, he was also in pole position and finished the race in third. For us, for Red Bull and for Toro Rosso, he is a very high-skilled driver and I think that he will have a successful future."