LOUIE CAPOZZOLI TO MAKE MINI CHALLENGE TROPHY RETURN WITH EXCELR8
Former Rookie Cup winner Louie Capozzoli will make a return to the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy when the series heads for Croft for the fourth meeting of the season after inking a deal to join EXCELR8.
Capozzoli made his car racing debut in the series back in 2020 with a number of guest outings before returning for a full season the following year.
The youngster endured a tricky start to his campaign after a huge incident at Thruxton wrote off his race car, but rebounded in stunning fashion to charge into championship contention through the second half of the year in a newly built machine.
A double win on his return to Thruxton in front of a bumper BTCC crowd, and victory on the final weekend of the year at Silverstone, saw Capozzoli end the year as championship runner-up whilst he also wrapped up the Rookie Cup crown.
Returning to the grid in a partial campaign in 2022, Capozzoli once again took to the top step of the podium at Thruxton before moving over to the Civic Cup for the first part of 2023.
Since then, Capozzoli has largely focused on his off-track career, taking up roles with both Prodrive and Mercedes-AMG after completion of an engineering course at Silverstone UTC.
Earlier this year, Capozzoli took on a new challenge with a move to the Red Bull Racing F1 team, working in the role of ERS Test Technician.
Eager to return to race action himself, Capozzoli hit the track late last year at the MINI CHALLENGE taster day, which only heightened his desire to get back on track.
With support from ZJ Building Services, Capozzoli will not only now relaunch his racing career but will do so with EXCELR8, the most successful team in MINI CHALLENGE history with multiple championships across the different classes.
Given that Croft marks the fourth round of the year for the Cooper field, Capozzoli’s main target will be to bring home three trouble free race results, with the ultimate goal of fighting towards the sharp end of the field.
“Stepping away from racing in 2023 was an incredibly tough decision, but it was necessary at the time,” he said. “I needed to focus on building my career within the F1 engineering world, and combined with the challenge of securing sufficient budget, I had to take some time out.
“The desire to race has never left me and having been invited by EXCELR8 to the 2024 season finale, we started to talk about possibly returning to action in 2025. Sadly, we couldn’t get the package together for a full season but ahead of Thruxton, Justina got in touch about a possible deal. Whilst we didn’t have time to put everything in place for that weekend, it’s brilliant to now be rejoining the grid at Croft.
“The goal is to now work towards completing the season but I’m absolutely buzzing to be back racing, especially with a proven, race-winning team like EXCELR8 that know how to win championship titles.
“It will be a challenge this weekend given how competitive the grid is, and although I’m pushing for the best results possible, I have to be realistic, and three top ten finishes is something I’d be happy with.”
EXCELR8 Team Owner, Justina Williams insisted she was delighted to be able to give Capozzoli the chance to return to competition.
“We saw what Louie was capable of when he raced against us in the Coopers a few years ago, and it’s great that we are able to give him the chance to return to action this weekend,” she said. “We’ve been talking for a while about getting him behind the wheel of one of our cars and are looking forward to seeing how he now performs on track.
“Even with his time away from action, we’re confident he’ll quickly be up to speed and able to challenge for some impressive results.”
