Atte Mustonen (born 16 September 1988 in

Heinola Heinola () is a town and a municipality of inhabitants () located in the eastern part of the Päijänne Tavastia region, Finland, near the borders of the South Savonia region and the Kymenlaakso region. It is the third largest municipality in ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

), is a single-seater

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

driver.

Motorsport career

Like many aspiring

drivers, Mustonen began his career with

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

at the age of 11. By 2002, his talent became evident when he won the ICA Junior Karting Championship in

, and successfully retained his title in 2003. The two back-to-back victories helped him to be named

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 ...

Karting Driver of the Year in 2003. Atte Mustonen 2008 British F3 Croft

The following year, 2004, was pivotal in Mustonen's career, with him winning the Finnish Formula A Championship and being named

Karting Driver of the Year once again. He also competed in the Winter, Constructor and Pomposa International Cups, where he registered on the international radar for the sport. In 2005, Mustonen transferred to the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

FR 2.0 Winter Trophy, which he won. The following year, he competed in the European version, where he registered a few podiums in another successful season. Mustonen was signed by Räikkönen Robertson Racing for the 2007 British Formula 3 Championship, as a teammate in the Championship class to Jonathan Kennard and

Stephen Jelley Stephen Jelley (born 12 May 1982) is a British auto racing driver. Career Single-seaters Born in Leicester, Jelley moved up from Formula Ford to the National Class of the British Formula 3 Championship for 2004, taking three class wins. In 20 ...

. He impressed with his fast but often erratic races, not uncommon for a young racing driver. He broke the lap record at

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population o ...

, and achieved his first victory of the season in race two at the Thruxton round of the championship. He ended the year ranked 7th in the overall standings. He returned for a second season in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, but had a largely uneventful season. A win at Rockingham was the only major highlight, as he ended up sixth in the championship, losing out on fifth to

Marcus Ericsson Marcus Thorbjörn Ericsson (; born 2 September 1990) is a Swedish professional racing driver. He competes in the NTT IndyCar Series, driving the No. 8 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing and is the 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner. Ericsson previously ...

in the final round. Mustonen moved to the

Formula Three Euroseries The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

for the 2009 season, driving for the Motopark Academy team alongside

Christopher Zanella Christopher Zanella (born 21 October 1989) is a Swiss former racing driver. Career Formula Renault 2.0 Switzerland Zanella, born in Waldshut-Tiengen, began competing in formula racing with Formula Renault 2.0 Switzerland in 2007. In 2008 he ...

. Mustonen missed the rounds at

Oschersleben Oschersleben () is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2020 about 19,000. History On November 23, 994 Oschersleben was first mentioned in a document by the Emperor Otto III. In 1235 ...

due to health problems, and was replaced by

Renger van der Zande Renger van der Zande (born 16 February 1986) is a Dutch racing driver who currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Chip Ganassi Racing. He is the son of the 1978 National Dutch Rallycross Champion Ronald van der Zan ...

. Mustonen returned for the rounds at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

and

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

, before van der Zande returned to replace him from

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

onwards.

Racing record

Career summary

References

External links

Atte Mustonen Official WebsiteAtte Mustonen at Lukoil Racing Team Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mustonen, Atte 1988 births Living people People from Heinola Finnish racing drivers German Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers Sportspeople from Päijät-Häme Koiranen GP drivers Jenzer Motorsport drivers Double R Racing drivers Motopark Academy drivers Signature Team drivers