Aaro Vainio (born 2 October 1993 in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärv ...

) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

racing driver, currently contesting in ADAC GT Masters.

Career

Karting

Vainio has enjoyed a successful karting career. He won the Finnish championship in 2007, and in 2008 he won the European

KF3 OK-Junior is a kart racing class for top drivers aged 11 to 15 (drivers must reach the age of 12 within the first semester of calendar year). This class used to be called Junior Intercontinental A (JICA or ICA-J) and has changed since January 200 ...

Championship and the

Junior Monaco Kart Cup The Junior Monaco Kart Cup was a kart racing event ruled by the CIK-FIA and organized by the Automobile Club de Monaco, it took place each year in Monaco. The event see young drivers compete with KF3 OK-Junior is a kart racing class for top dri ...

. In 2009 he was runner-up in the

CIK-FIA The Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK or CIK-FIA) is the primary international sanctioning body for kart racing. It was founded in 1962, and is headquartered in Paris, France. In 2000, it joined with the FIA. Its most important event is the ...

Karting World Championship and won the European

KF1 KF1 is the top level of karting. It is open to drivers aged 15 and up. This class used to be called Formula A and has changed since January 2007 when CIK-FIA decided to replace the 100 cc water-cooled two-stroke engines with 125 cc Touch-an ...

Champion.

Formula Renault

In 2010 Vainio stepped up to

single-seater An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have the ...

racing, driving for

Tech 1 Racing Tech 1 Racing is a racing team based in Toulouse, France. They currently compete in the World Series by Renault and Eurocup Mégane Trophy. Tech 1 also operate the Panis Racing LMP2 entry to the European Le Mans Series and the Ultimate LMP2 Pro ...

in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. He had been expected to be part of the

SG Formula SG Formula is a French auto racing team which participated in the junior categories of open wheel racing: Formula Renault and Formula Three. The team was founded in 2004 by Frenchman Stephane Guerin. History After its foundation in 2004, SG Form ...

team, but the team shut down. His manager was

Nicolas Todt Nicolas Todt (born 17 November 1977 in Le Chesnay, Yvelines) is a French motorsport team owner. He is the son of former Ferrari Formula One team principal and former FIA president Jean Todt. Todt is the manager of major racing drivers, including ...

, son of

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

president

Jean Todt Jean Todt (; born 25 February 1946) is a French motor racing executive and former rally co-driver. He was previously director of Peugeot Talbot Sport and then Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, before being appointed chief executive offi ...

and manager of

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver Felipe Massa who had set a goal to get Vainio to Formula One in 2014. Vainio was also a candidate for the Ferrari Young Driver Academy, but was unsuccessful.

GP3 Series

For the 2011 racing season, Vainio moved into the

GP3 series The GP3 Series, or GP3 for short, was a single-seater motor racing series launched in 2010 as a feeder series for the GP2 Series, introduced by GP2 organiser Bruno Michel. GP3 followed the entire European leg of the Formula One series and th ...

with

. He achieved a podium finish in his third race but only scored points twice during the remainder of the season, ultimately finishing 15th in the standings. He remained in GP3 for 2012, moving to the Lotus GP team, where he took his maiden series win in the first ever GP3 race in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

.Vainio flies to maiden victory in Monaco
, GP3 Series. He finished the season fourth in the standings, behind

António Félix da Costa António Maria de Mello Breyner Félix da Costa (born 31 August 1991) is a Portuguese professional racing driver for the Porsche Formula E Team and the 2019–20 Formula E Drivers' Champion. He won the Macau Grand Prix invitational Formula Thr ...

, teammate

Daniel Abt Daniel Johannes Abt (born 3 December 1992) is a German former racing driver. He has competed in such series as the German Formula Three Championship, the GP3 Series, the GP2 Series, and won the 2009 ADAC Formel Masters championship. He competed i ...

and champion

Mitch Evans Mitchell William Evans (born 24 June 1994) is a New Zealand professional racing driver. He currently drives for the Jaguar TCS Racing team in Formula E. In 2012, he won the GP3 Series and he raced in the GP2 Series for four years, achieving ...

. He is currently driving for the new team

Koiranen GP Koiranen Kemppi Motorsport, formerly also known as Koiranen bros. Motorsport and Koiranen GP, is a Finnish auto racing team based in Lahti, Finland. The team currently fields a one car entry in the LMP3 class of Asian Le Mans Series and Prototype ...

Racing record

Career summary

Complete GP3 Series results

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

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

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

Complete Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe results

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

References

External links

*
Career statistics at Driver Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vainio, Aaro 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Espoo Finnish racing drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers GP3 Series drivers from Finland World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers ART Grand Prix drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers Tech 1 Racing drivers Koiranen GP drivers Euronova Racing drivers Team Rosberg drivers R-Motorsport drivers Karting World Championship drivers