Niko Kari

Niko Kari (born 6 October 1999) is a Finnish racing driver. He won his first single-seater championship in his debut year in SMP F4 Championship.[1] He recently competed in Formula 2 with MP Motorsport. He is a former member of the Red Bull Junior Team.

Niko Kari
Nationality Finnish
Born (1999-10-06) 6 October 1999
Hyvinkää, Finland
European Le Mans Series career
Debut season2020
Current teamEuroInternational
Car number11
Starts5
Wins0
Podiums2
Poles0
Fastest laps1
Best finish4th in 2020
Previous series
2019
2018
201618
2016
2015
FIA Formula 3 Championship
FIA Formula 2 Championship
GP3 Series
FIA European Formula 3
SMP F4 Championship
Championship titles
2015SMP F4 Championship

Career

Karting

Kari started karting in 2009 and took part in his first race in 2010. He raced in several national karting series in Finland from 2010 to 2013. In 2014, Kari moved to KF European where he finished fifth overall.[2]

Junior Formulae

Kari moved to single-seaters in 2015, starting in the new SMP F4 Championship. He won seven races and took the title with three races to spare. Kari moved to European Formula 3 Championship in 2016 with Motopark.[3] He took victory at the first race at Imola after a late lunge on Lance Stroll and finished fifth in the rookie standings and tenth overall.

GP3 Series

In August 2016, Kari was also announced to take part in the GP3 rounds at Spa-Francorchamps with Koiranen GP, in place of Ralph Boschung.[4] In November 2016, Helmut Marko confirmed Kari would move to the series full-time in 2017.[5] In January, Kari was signed to Arden International.[6] Kari finished the season with 63 points and a 10th place in drivers' championship. He was dropped from the Red Bull Junior Team after the season.[7]

Kari continued to race in GP3 switching to MP Motorsport for the 2018 campaign.[8] After 14 races into the season Kari was promoted to FIA Formula 2 Championship with MP Motorsport for the remainder of the 2018 season.[9] At the time Kari had collected 6 points and was holding 16th place in the drivers' championship.

Formula 2

Kari was promoted to FIA Formula 2 Championship with MP Motorsport for the last two weekends of the 2018 season replacing Ralph Boschung.[9]

Formula One

In December 2015, Kari, along with his Motopark teammate Sérgio Sette Câmara, became a member of the Red Bull Junior Team and thus becoming a test driver of Scuderia Toro Rosso. In November 2016, it was confirmed Kari would remain a part of the Junior team.[10] In August of the following year, Kari was dismissed from the program.[7]

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2015 SMP F4 Championship Koiranen GP 21 7 4 9 19 449 1st
2016 FIA Formula 3 European Championship Motopark 30 1 0 0 5 129 10th
Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 2nd
GP3 Series Koiranen GP 2 0 0 0 0 0 26th
2017 GP3 Series Arden International 15 1 0 1 2 63 10th
2018 GP3 Series MP Motorsport 14 0 0 0 0 6 17th
FIA Formula 2 Championship 4 0 0 0 0 0 24th
2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship Trident 16 0 0 0 2 36 12th
Formula Regional European Championship KIC Motorsport 3 0 0 0 0 26 15th
2020 European Le Mans Series - LMP3 Eurointernational 5 0 0 1 2 55 4th

Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points
2016 Motopark Volkswagen LEC
1

8
LEC
2

16
LEC
3

15
HUN
1

2
HUN
2

Ret
HUN
3

8
PAU
1

19
PAU
2

11
PAU
3

8
RBR
1

20
RBR
2

3
RBR
3

8
NOR
1

2
NOR
2

12
NOR
3

Ret
ZAN
1

6
ZAN
2

11
ZAN
3

11
SPA
1

11
SPA
2

10
SPA
3

7
NÜR
1

8
NÜR
2

10
NÜR
3

3
IMO
1

1
IMO
2

9
IMO
3

Ret
HOC
1

14
HOC
2

12
HOC
3

13
10th 129

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points
2016 Koiranen GP CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
SPA
FEA

Ret
SPA
SPR

14
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SEP
FEA
SEP
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
26th 0
2017 Arden International CAT
FEA

15
CAT
SPR

14
RBR
FEA

Ret
RBR
SPR

18
SIL
FEA

5
SIL
SPR

3
HUN
FEA

9
HUN
SPR

6
SPA
FEA

9
SPA
SPR

9
MNZ
FEA

15†
MNZ
SPR

C
JER
FEA

6
JER
SPR

19
YMC
FEA

1
YMC
SPR

13
10th 63
2018 MP Motorsport CAT
FEA

Ret
CAT
SPR

6
LEC
FEA

DSQ
LEC
SPR

Ret
RBR
FEA

11
RBR
SPR

8
SIL
FEA

11
SIL
SPR

Ret
HUN
FEA

Ret
HUN
SPR

Ret
SPA
FEA

14
SPA
SPR

12
MNZ
FEA

10
MNZ
SPR

10
SOC
FEA
SOC
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
17th 6

Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points
2018 MP Motorsport BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
BAK
FEA
BAK
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
LEC
FEA
LEC
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SOC
FEA

Ret
SOC
SPR

Ret
YMC
FEA

15
YMC
SPR

Ret
24th 0

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points
2019 Trident CAT
FEA

8
CAT
SPR

3
LEC
FEA

18
LEC
SPR

24†
RBR
FEA

11
RBR
SPR

8
SIL
FEA

18
SIL
SPR

19
HUN
FEA

14
HUN
SPR

12
SPA
FEA

19
SPA
SPR

Ret
MNZ
FEA

Ret
MNZ
SPR

15
SOC
FEA

3
SOC
SPR

5
12th 36

Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 Rank Points
2020 Eurointernational LMP3 Ligier JS P320 Nissan VK56DE 5.6L V8 LEC
6
SPA
3
LEC
7
MNZ
2
ALG
6
4th 55

References

  1. "NIKO KARI CLAIMS THE FIRST SMP F4 CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE". SMP F4 Championship. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  2. "2014 CIK-FIA European KF Championship Standings". CIK-FIA. 31 August 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  3. "SMP F4 champion Niko Kari nearing European F3 graduation for 2016". Autosport. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  4. "Red Bull junior Kari handed GP3 debut at Spa". August 25, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  5. "Onko tässä Suomen seuraava F1-kuljettaja? (Is this the next Finnish F1 driver?)". November 26, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2016. Formula 3:n eurosarjassa Kari oli tällä kaudella vasta kymmenes voitettuaan 30 startista vain yhden, mutta ensi kaudella Kari saa paikan GP3-sarjasta. Asian vahvisti MTV Sportille Red Bullin moottoriurheilupomo Helmut Marko (Formula 3 Euro Series Kari was only tenth in this season after winning just one of 30 start-up, but the next season Kari gets a seat in the GP3 series. This interest was confirmed by MTV Intersport in Red Bull's motorsport boss Helmut Marko).
  6. "Red Bull Juniors confirmed". 18 January 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  7. "Red Bull drops young talent". August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  8. "Kari stays in GP3 with MP Motorsport". Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  9. "Kari steps up to Formula 2 with MP". Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  10. "Niko Kari (17) ook volgend jaar in Red Bull Junior Team (Niko Kari (17) next year at Red Bull Junior Team)". November 26, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Inaugural
SMP F4 Championship
Champion

2015
Succeeded by
Richard Verschoor
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