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	6 October 1999 Hyvinkää, Finland
European Le Mans Series career
Debut season	2020
Current team	EuroInternational
Car number	11
Starts	5
Wins	0
Podiums	2
Poles	0
Fastest laps	1
Best finish	4th in 2020
Previous series
2019 2018 2016–18 2016 2015	FIA Formula 3 Championship FIA Formula 2 Championship GP3 Series FIA European Formula 3 SMP F4 Championship
Championship titles
2015	SMP 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.

External links

• Official website
• Niko Kari career summary at DriverDB.com