Evgeny Maksimovich Novikov (russian: Евгений Максимович Новиков, translit=Yevgeniy Maksimovich Novikov; born 19 September 1990) is a former

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

rally driver Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

who competed in the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

from 2007 to 2013.

Career

Born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Novikov won the Russian Rally Cup in 2006 and finished runner-up in both Estonian and Russian national championships in 2007. The 2007 season also saw him debut in the

at the season-ending

2007 Wales Rally GB The 2007 Wales Rally GB (formally known as 63rd Wales Rally of Great Britain) was the 16th round of the 2007 World Rally Championship. The race was held over three days between 30 November and 2 December 2007. Report Sébastien Loeb became world ...

. In the 2008 season, Novikov contested a full six-event

Production World Rally Championship The FIA Production World Rally Championship, or PWRC, was a companion rally series to the World Rally Championship, contested by Group N rally cars. History The series started in 1987 as ''FIA Cup for Production Rally Drivers'' and obtained th ...

programme as the series' youngest driver. He retired in four rallies and collected his only PWRC points at the

Rally Japan Rally Japan (ラリージャパン) is a rally competition held in Hokkaidō, Japan. The event made its debut in the FIA World Rally Championship during the 2004 season. From 2004 to 2007, the event was held on the twisty and narrow gravel roads ...

, where he impressively led the category until suspension problems on the last stage dropped him narrowly behind

Juho Hänninen Juho Ville Matias Hänninen (born 25 July 1981) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) champion and 2011 Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) champion with co-driver Mikko Markkula driving a works ...

. He still managed to stay 2.9 seconds ahead of

Toshi Arai is a Japanese rally driver and team owner. He is the first Japanese FIA world champion. Arai was born in Isesaki, Gunma. He made his debut in 1987 and drove for the Subaru World Rally Team in the Group N World Rally Championship from 1997– ...

and with the eight points for the second place, he placed 13th in the championship standings. For the 2009 season, Novikov was signed by the debuting Citroën Junior Team,

Citroën Total Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

's satellite team. With

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champions ...

and

Conrad Rautenbach Conrad Rautenbach (born 12 November 1984) is a rally driver from Zimbabwe who competed in the World Rally Championship for the Citroën Junior Team along with his co-driver Daniel Barritt. He won the African Rally Championship twice, in 2007 ...

as his teammates, he will drive the Citroën C4 WRC in at least eight of the twelve rallies. He scored his first WRC points with a fifth place at the

Rally d'Italia Sardegna The Rally Italia Sardegna (until 2010 Rally d'Italia Sardegna) is a rally competition in Sardinia, Italy, which has been a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) schedule and also the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). Characteristics ...

, and his first stage win in the following event, the

Acropolis Rally The Acropolis Rally of Greece ( el, Ράλλυ Ακρόπολις) is a rally competition that is part of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The rally is held on very dusty, rough, rocky and fast mountain roads in mainland Greece, usually duri ...

in Greece. He became both the first Russian and the youngest-ever driver to top the time sheets in the series. After one year off from competition, Novikov returned to the World Rally Championship partway through in the 2011 season, making his first appearance at the Rally Mexico in a Stobart M-Sport-prepared Ford. He competed in eight of the thirteen rallies, scoring twelve points over the course of the season to finish the year seventeenth overall. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, Novikov joined M-Sport full-time. He scored his first podium at the

2012 Rally de Portugal The 2012 Rally de Portugal was the fourth round of the 2012 World Rally Championship season and was based in Faro, Portugal. It started with a street stage in Lisbon on 29 March and concluded on 1 April after twenty-two special stages, totallin ...

, finishing third overall. He was promoted to second place when Citroën driver

Mikko Hirvonen Mikko Hirvonen (born 31 July 1980) is a Finnish former rally driver, and a current Rally-Raid driver, who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford to the manufacturers' title in both 200 ...

was excluded from the results. For the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

season, Novikov joined the Qatar M-Sport WRT alongside

Mads Østberg Mads Østberg (born 11 October 1987) is a Norwegian rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen. Career Østberg competed in his first rally in 2004. His first World Rally Championship event was the 2006 Swedish Rally, in which he finishe ...

. At the beginning of the

2013 Acropolis Rally The 2013 Acropolis Rally was the sixth round of the 2013 World Rally Championship season. The event was based in Loutraki, Corinthia, and started on 31 May and was concluded on 2 June after fourteen special stages, totaling 306 competitive kilomet ...

, Novikov was the early leader after winning the first 2 stages and had a 40-second lead over

Jari-Matti Latvala Jari-Matti Latvala (born 3 April 1985) is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 ...

after stage 3. A puncture dropped him down to 8th and ruled him out for his maiden win, Latvala eventually won the rally. Novikov failed to secure a drive for the 2014 season.

Complete WRC results

PWRC results

References

External links

*
Novikov at eWRC-results.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Novikov, Evgeny 1990 births Living people Russian rally drivers Sportspeople from Moscow World Rally Championship drivers Citroën Racing drivers