Kristján Einar Kristjánsson (born 8 January 1989) is an Icelandic

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

. He started racing in karts at 14, the age when Icelandic law allows drivers to start racing karts. He is the first ever driver to emerge from Icelandic motorsport (karting) into full international formula racing series.

Karting career

Kristján Einar was born in

Garðabær Garðabær () is a municipality in the Capital Region of Iceland. History Garðabær is a growing town in the Capital Region. It is the sixth largest town in Iceland with a population of 13,872 (Sept 1, 2013). The site of Garðabær has been inha ...

. He started racing karts at 14, the age when Icelandic law allows drivers to start racing karts. As the only teenager competing, Kristján finished up 8th in his debut season of 2003, starting his racing caree
rolling his gokart(Video)
. The following year Kristjan was back racing, this time finishing the 2004 season in 4th place, the following season finishing second and the highlight being the 2006 season, winning the Icelandic National karting championship, and still holding that title to date.

Toyota Racing Series

To kick off his single-seater racing career, Kristján Einar took advantage of southern hemisphere racing. During the winter break in the UK, and went to New Zealand to compete his first international races, finishing three rounds in the

Toyota Racing Series The Formula Regional Oceania Championship is New Zealand's premier formula racing category. The series includes races for every major trophy in New Zealand circuit racing including the New Zealand Motor Cup and the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy. ...

; adding to his experience and getting quicker every lap, Einar earned the necessary racing experience he needed to start his season in the

2008 British Formula Three season The 2008 Formula 3 International Series was the 58th British Formula 3 International Series season. It began on 24 March 2008 at Oulton Park's Easter Monday meeting and ended on 12 October at Donington Park after 22 rounds in four countries. J ...

. Einar teamed up with Matt Halliday at Triple X Motorsport.

2008 British Formula Three season

Kristján Einar's first full racing season was the

with

Carlin Motorsport Carlin, formerly Carlin Motorsport, is a motor racing team based in the United Kingdom. It currently competes in five championships: FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 3 Championship, F4 British Championship, BRDC British Formula 3 and E ...

. Kristján's entry caught attention; a driver coming from a country with no racetrack and going almost directly from karting into the most successful

British Formula Three The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single seat ...

team ever. Kristján raced in the national class, and scored his first podium at the third round of the season, at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

. Kristján missed the last three races of the season, and finish seventh in the national class. Kristján Einar was part of a very strong Carlin lineup, this helped him improve at a very fast pace, Kristján's teammate in the national class was Andrew Meyrick and Carlin's championship lineup was

Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero (; born 23 March 1990), also known as Jaume Alguersuari (), and Squire is a Spanish DJ and retired racing driver best known for competing in Formula One between and , and for being the 2008 British Formula 3 ...

Brendon Hartley Brendon Hartley (born 10 November 1989) is a New Zealand professional racing driver who is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing. He won the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship, alongside his te ...

Oliver Turvey Oliver Jonathan Turvey (born 1 April 1987) is a British professional racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula E, and is currently signed to McLaren as a test driver. He was a notable kart racer, with two national titles, and was the ...

and

Sam Abay Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin Sam is a town and arrondissement in the Alibori Department of northeastern Benin. It is an administrative division under the jurisdiction of the commune of Kandi. According to the populati ...

2009 European F3 Open season

For 2009, Kristján inked a last minute deal with British racing team West-Tec, to race in the 2009 European F3 Open Championship, teaming up with team mates Christian Ebbesvik and

Callum MacLeod Callum MacLeod (born 20 January 1988) is a professional British race car driver who drives in the British G.T. Championship. He also won the 2007 British Formula Ford Championship and the 2009 European F3 Open Championship. He was born in North ...

. Kristján races in a Dallara 306 chassis, allowing him to compete for both overall honors, and the Copa cup. Kristján scored his first podium of the season at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

Testing

Kristján Einar started his career testing

Formula BMW Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young ...

with

for the second half of the 2007 season, aiming at entering the 2008 Formula BMW UK championship. When the FBMW UK changed into Formula BMW Europe Kristján was offered to test more powerful cars with Carlin Motorsport and 7 months to the day he first drove a single seater, he was on the grid of the British Formula 3. After a full year of successful racing in Britain, Kristján started looking elsewhere, and headed off to the USA, to test for the famous

Newman Wachs Racing Newman Wachs Racing (also referred to as NWR) is an auto racing team owned by Eddie Wachs and, until his death, Paul Newman. NWR was based outside of Chicago in Mundelein, Illinois. Newman and Wachs met when they both competed in Can-Am series in t ...

for the

Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

. After a good outing at

Sebring International Raceway Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility in the southeastern United States, located near Sebring, Florida. Sebring Raceway is one of the oldest continuously operating race tracks in the U.S., its first race being run i ...

Kristján was about to sign up for the 2009 Atlantic Championship season when sponsorship fell through. Kristján Einar has always had a passion for sportscars, and in 2009 he was offered to try out the new

Formula Le Mans Cup The Le Mans Prototype Challenge (shortened to LMP Challenge or LMPC) was a spec sports prototype formula created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and sports car constructor Oreca. The formula is inte ...

prototype at the Paul Ricard Circuit in France.

External links

Official website

Kristján Einar at Driver Database

Team West-Tec Official website

Carlin Motorsport Official website

Newman Wachs Racing Official website

European F3 Open Official website

British F3 International Series Official website

Toyota Racing Series Official website

The Icelandic motorsport association Official website

Triple X motorsport Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Einar, Kristjan 1989 births Living people British Formula Three Championship drivers Toyota Racing Series drivers Icelandic racing drivers FIA E-Rally Regularity Cup drivers People from Garðabær Carlin racing drivers Team West-Tec drivers Euroformula Open Championship drivers