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Kei Francesco Cozzolino
Cozzolino at the2025 Super GT Malaysia Festival
Born	(1987-11-09)9 November 1987 (age 38)
Occupation	Racing driver
FIA World Endurance Championship
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Years active	2019 – 2023
Teams	AF Corse
Championship titles
GT World Challenge Asia Asian Le Mans Series Lamborghini Super Trofeo Esso Formula Toyota
Awards
2022GT World Challenge Asia Overall Champion 2018Asian Le Mans GT Champion 2017Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Champion 2007Esso Formula Toyota Champion

Kei Francesco Cozzolino (born inShinjuku,Tokyo, November 9, 1987) is a Japanese-Italian professional racing driver from Shinjuku, Tokyo. He competes in motorsport championships including theFIA World Endurance Championship (WEC),24 Hours of Le Mans,Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, and theAsian Le Mans Series withAF Corse. Cozzolino joined the 2024Super GT series, driving a Ferrari 296 GT3 forPONOS RACING.

Cozzolino was born in Ichigaya, Shinjuku by Japanese mother and Italian father. He grew up in Japan and had his first experience with racing at 8 years old, thanks to his dad's passion for cars. When Cozzolino turned 14, they moved to Florence, Italy, where he studied at an international school.^[1]

Cozzolino started karting at the age of 9. He competed and won in various competitions in classes in Japan and around the world. His karting career ended in 2005 when he switched to racing cars.

In 2006, Cozzolino made his debut in auto racing, in theFormula Toyota series, during the second round of the championship atSendai Hi-Land Raceway.^[2] Cozzolino finished tenth out of eleven finishers. In 2007, he competed in theFormula Challenge Japan and theFormula Toyota classes. In the Formula Challenge Japan, supported byNissan,Toyota andHonda, Cozzolino won one race. All the drivers who entered both the Formula Toyota and Formula Challenge Japan series were supported by Toyota. This was to promote the Formula Challenge Japan as a replacement of the Formula Toyota after the series disbandment.^[3] In the final season of the Formula Toyota, Cozzolino won the title. Cozzolino was strong all season long, butKeisuke Kunimoto had the lead before the final round of the season. At the final round of the season atFuji International Speedway Cozzolino qualified second and Kunimoto sixth. After a strong race Cozzolino won the race, KyoYu did not finish the race, thus the championship was decided in Cozzolino's favour.

After his 2007 Formula Toyota championship the young driver graduated to theAll-Japan Formula Three Championship driving Now Motor Sport in aDallara F308. As a result of winning the championship Cozzolino tested for the ToyotaTom'sFormula Nippon factory team. In his debut year in Formula 3 the young Italian achieved four podium finishes and a ninth place in the championship. He also participated in the 2008 Macau Grand Prix Formula Three where he finished fifteenth. For the 2009 season, Cozzolino switched to the onlyHonda powered entryToda Racing. He achieved his first win in Formula Three during the round atTwin Ring Motegi. But with the Toyota Tom's team dominating the championship Cozzolino was best of the rest finishing fourth.

For the 2010 season, Cozzolino graduated to theFormula Nippon, the highest racing class in Japan. Cozzolino participated in aToyota poweredSwift FN09 entered byTeam LeMans.^{[citation needed]} His best finish was a fourth place atAutopolis. During the non-championship Fuji Sprint Cup he achieved his first pole-position and eventually finished tenth in the standings.^{[citation needed]}

After more than a year without racing Cozzolino was announced as a replacement ofAlberto Cerqui for theGuia Race of Macau.^[4] 29 drivers attempted to qualify for the event of which 23 could start the race, Cozzolino qualified 22nd. In the first race he had an accident after seven laps but he was qualified 20th. In the second race he was the last running driver in 19th place 2 laps behind the winning driver.

In 2018–2019, theFerrari 488GT3 of the privately runCAR GUY team, with teammates Takeshi Kimura andJames Calado, win all four legs of the2018–19 Asian Le Mans Series.^[5] The team achieves an auto-invitation to enter into the2019 24 hours of Le Mans. Cozzolino returns to the series with AF Corse teaming up withEmmanuel Collard and Charlie Samani.

Cozzolino has made 3 appearances in Le Mans (2019, 2020 and 2023). In 2019, he finishes5th in class. At his second attempt in 2020, theFerrari 488 GTE EVO of the MR Racing team, suffers a mechanical problem early on the race and forced to be 7 laps behind the leader. In the end the team retires due to a gearbox failure on lap 172.In the 2023 edition, with the Kessel Racing's Ferrari 488 GTE EVO number 74 finishing 9th in class.

Following his remarkable achievement in 2019, Cozzolino secured a contract to compete for the MR Racing team during the FIA WEC 2019–2020 season. He teamed up with Olivier Beretta and Motoaki Ishikawa, and their best performance came in the form of a 3rd-place finish in the opening round at Silverstone. Unfortunately, as the season progressed, MR Racing was forced to withdraw from the series due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.Cozzolino made a return to the series for the final round in Bahrain, this time with Red River Sport.

In 2023, he joined forces with Kessel Racing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Monza events. Subsequently, he made a comeback with AF Corse to participate in the Fuji and Bahrain rounds.

In 2016, Cozzolino made his debut in the Super GT series upon being promoted to the prestigious position of a Lamborghini Young Driver. During that year, he participated in only two rounds, driving the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 as a member of the Direction Racing team.

Cozzolino's return to the series took place in 2020 when he stepped in to replace Nicki Thiim for the Pacific - D'station Racing team, driving the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 alongside the team's star driver, Tomonobu Fujii.

In the year 2021, Cozzolino embarked on a new venture, debuting the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo with the PACIFIC NAC CARGUY Racing Team, forming a partnership with the 2012 Super GT 300 Champion, Naoki Yokomizo.

Looking ahead to 2024, Cozzolino is set to rejoin the series as part of the PONOS Racing team, piloting the Ferrari 296 GT3. He will be teaming up with Ferrari Factory Driver,Lilou Wadoux, in this exciting new chapter of his Super GT career.

^* Season still in progress.

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2019	Car Guy Racing	Takeshi Kimura Côme Ledogar	Ferrari 488 GTE	GTE Am	332	35th	5th
2020	MR Racing	Vincent Abril Takeshi Kimura	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GTE Am	172	DNF	DNF
2023	Kessel Racing	Yorikatsu Tsujiko Naoki Yokomizo	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GTE Am	303	38th	9th

^* Season still in progress.

• Official website
• Kei Cozzolino career summary at DriverDB.com

• 1987 births
• Living people
• People from Shinjuku
• Japanese people of Italian descent
• Japanese emigrants to Italy
• Formula Challenge Japan drivers
• Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers
• Formula Nippon drivers
• World Touring Car Championship drivers
• Super GT drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• Asian Le Mans Series drivers
• FIA World Endurance Championship drivers
• Team LeMans drivers
• Euronova Racing drivers
• AF Corse drivers
• Le Mans Cup drivers
• Lamborghini Super Trofeo drivers
• Ferrari Competizioni GT drivers
• WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers
• Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers

• CS1 Italian-language sources (it)
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