Photo: Chris Schotanus
Italian youngster Luca Ghiotto will continue his cooperation with Prema Powerteam in 2013 as the team has announced the 17-year-old will be staying with them for full-time Eurocup FR2.0 and FR2.0 Alps campaigns.
Ghiotto graduated from karting in 2011, joining Prema in Formula Abarth, where he finished sixth in the European standings and ninth in the Italian standings, with four podiums across the board.
In 2012, Ghiotto continued in Formula Abarth, narrowly losing out on the title to Nicolas Costa in both championship categories as he amassed seven victories throughout the season, more than any other driver in the series. He made his debut in select rounds of FR2.0 NEC and FR2.0 Alps at the end of the year and scored points in both series.
“Being able to continue working with Prema is a relief for me,” stated Ghiotto. “I began my single-seater career with them and, with me learning from the team, we’ve achieved some great results in Formula Abarth. It’s quite logical for me to start this new adventure in Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS and in the Eurocup with the team. It surely will be a long and tough season with lots of races but, as as I’ve demonstrated at the end of 2012, in the FR2.0 rounds that we contested, we were among the best. I’m sure we can continue that trend in 2013”.
Team boss Angelo Rosin added: “Luca is part of our family. He moved his first steps in open-wheel racing with us after stepping up from kart racing? and never left. We saw him grow up and get more and more experienced, and not only from a racing point of view. He’s a great driver and he proved it with his runs in Formula Abarth last season. He also impressed in Formula Renault ALPS, and he’s ready to challenge any kind of rival. As we get set to a grand return to the Renault racing scene, we decided to keep working together and aim high”.
2013 will mark Prema’s return to FR2.0. In 2012, they’ve run Ghiotto and Bruno Bonifacio during select FR2.0 events, with both of them scoring points and Bonifacio securing a podium finish at the FR2.0 NEC finale at Spa.