Kvyat “Grateful” for Lamborghini Opportunity

Daniil Kvyat is “grateful” to have been picked up by Lamborghini to become part of its LMDh factory squad, saying he considered calling time on his racing career following his exit from Formula 1 before the Italian manufacturer came calling.

Kvyat was announced on Thursday as the fourth member of the driving roster for Lamborghini’s yet-to-be-named LMDh car, joining Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and fellow ex-F1 racer Romain Grosjean.

The 28-year-old will be involved in testing and development work for the Ligier-chassied car leading into a racing program with Iron Lynx in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.

Kvyat has already made his first steps into prototype racing, competing for Iron Lynx partner operation Prema in WEC alongside Bortolotti and Doriane Pin.

He finished third in class on debut in the 1000 Miles of Sebring.

“I enjoyed it very much in Sebring,” Kvyat said.

“It was my first race. We were fighting for the win and the podium all race long. It was very good. The guys have been doing a great job.

“We have a very professional group of people here. I definitely enjoy it.

“I haven’t been racing so much lately, so it was good to get back in winning ways. To get back on the podium felt really cool.”

Kvyat’s racing career has been given a new lease of life following his exit from Formula 1.

He contested 110 Grands Prix across six seasons in the premier single seater series, most notably for Red Bull Racing.

He also competed for Red Bull’s Faenza-based satellite team during two separate periods, first under the Toro Rosso banner and later AlphaTauri.

After he was dropped in favor of Yuki Tsunoda following the end of the 2020 season, he served as reserve driver for Alpine.

“At the end, there is F1 and it’s the pinnacle of motorsport,” Kvyat spoke about his F1 exit.

“I was an Alpine reserve driver for a while – been in touch close to some other series. But it didn’t work out in the end.

“Then you always need to look… I’ve been talking with a lot of people in many other championships.

“But you always need to see where is the best opportunity where you are the most desired and it makes the most sense.

“Timing is very important. It looked very good at the time. Some times were challenging for me.

“I have to be honest for myself… being not far from considering finishing my career to today, it’s a very cool place so I’m grateful to Lamborghini for believing in me.”

Kvyat went on to admit that a lack of significant opportunities led to doubts about his future in the sport.

“Not like retiring, but nothing was really coming along,” he said.

“When you are like this, you think it’s not really working out. You have these kind of thoughts.

“But at the end of the day, you give it the last chance maybe and it worked out.”

He said that the influx of new manufacturer to prototype competition was one of the main appeals drawing him to sports car racing.

“It’s one of the top categories in the world,” Kvyat noted.

“Especially with so many car manufacturers coming in, I’ve already lost count of how many… it becomes an extremely appealing championship to be in.

“After F1, on paper it looks like the biggest boom right now.”

Kvyat made an earlier attempt at joining the championship in 2022, signing with G-Drive Racing’s LMP2 effort.

However, the Roman Rusinov-led squad withdrew from the championship in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ongoing sanctions from governments as well as the FIA.

“When you approach LMP2, the next goal is to go to the top of that category, which is Hypercar in this case,” Kvyat explained.

“That had been the goal since the beginning. But things worked out in the wrong way sometimes, and that’s how it went.

“Lamborghini were looking for fast and experienced drivers for their project, so the timing was perfect.

“It all worked out. It was very easy negotiations since the beginning. When we spoke about everything together, it all made sense.”

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report