Founded 1997 Base Barcelona, Spain | Founder(s) Marko Koiranen Team principal(s) Afa Heikkinen | |
Current series GP3 Series
SMP F4 Championship Former series Formula Renault 2.0 Italia
Nordic Formula Three Masters
Formula Renault 2.0 Alps
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC | ||
Koiranen GP, also known as Koiranen bros. Motorsport, is a Finnish auto racing team based in Barcelona, Spain. The team currently competes in the GP3 Series. It is also a promoter of the SMP F4 Championship and Spanish Formula 4 Championship.
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Finnish Junior Formulas
The team was founded in 1997 by brothers Marko and Jari Koiranen. They joined the Finnish Formula 4 championship the same year, and also competed in Nordic and Finnish Formula Three championships until 2005.
Formula Renault
2003 saw Koiranen Motorsport join the German Formula Renault Championship, before expanding their Formula Renault programme to include a Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 campaign. They experienced their first real success when Valtteri Bottas finished third in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup in 2007. The team won their first title in 2010, when Kevin Korjus won the Eurocup title.
In 2011, Red Bull Junior Team started collaboration with the Finnish team. Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr. joined the team for Eurocup and NEC campaign. In Northern European Cup Sainz, Jr. achieved drivers' title and with help of Kvyat they both claimed teams' championship. They also claimed teams' trophy in Eurocup. Kvyat remained with the team for the next year and brought drivers' title in new Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series for the team .
In 2012, Koiranen Motorsport was one of eighteen teams to make a bid for one of the vacant grid positions in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, the highest tier of the Formula Renault championships. The team was unsuccessful, losing out to DAMS and Arden Caterham, but were placed on a reserve list, granting them automatic entry to the grid in the event that any of the existing thirteen teams failed to be ready in time.
2015 was the team's last season with Formula Renault. From 2016 onwards Koiranen will focus on GP3 and running two F4 series.
GP3 Series
Koiranen GP replaced Ocean Racing Technology in the GP3 Series, starting in 2013. Their drivers at the start of the season were Patrick Kujala and Aaro Vainio from Finland and Kevin Korjus from Estonia. Vainio was replaced by former FIA F2-champion Dean Stoneman for the last two races of the 2013 season. Koiranen GP finished their inaugural season with third place in the team's championship.
For their second season in the GP3 Series Koiranen changed their whole driver line-up. New drivers were Carmen Jordá from Spain, Jimmy Eriksson from Sweden and Santiago Urrutia from Uruguay. Dean Stoneman was once again brought in mid-season after Marussia Manor Racing folded before the race weekend in Sochi. Stoneman replaced Jordá for the remaining four races of the season. Koiranen GP placed 4th in the team's championship.
Koiranen retained Eriksson for the 2015 season and paired him with Adderly Fong and Formula Renault graduate Matt Parry. Koiranen borught in Russian Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup driver Matevos Isaakyan to replace Fong for last four races of the season. Koiranen repeated last season's results finishing fourth in the teams championship.
Koiranen retained Parry and Isaakyan for the 2016 season. They were teamed up with Mahaveer Raghunathan and Ralph Boschung. Boschung and Parry claimed victories for the team in the rounds at the Red Bull Ring and the Hungaroring respectively and the team finished fifth in the teams' championship.
GP3 Series
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* Season still in progress.