Mika Mäki (born February 27, 1988) is a Finnish former

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 ...

Career

Mika started in

kart 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 scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ful ...

ing, and competed for five years before heading to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and its Formula BMW ADAC series in 2005, finishing fourth in the Rookie Cup, and took his first victory at the

Norisring The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as a motorcycle racing venue in 1947 and named in a 1950 competition to win a light motorcycle, the track became known as a sports car racing venue in the 19 ...

. He moved to the Eifelland Racing Team for the 2006 season, finishing as runner-up with nine podiums. In 2007 Mäki got a seat in the

Red Bull Junior Team The Red Bull Junior Team is a driver development program run by the energy drink company Red Bull GmbH in an attempt to identify potential future racing stars in open wheel racing. The similar Red Bull Driver Search, now ended, was an American ...

. He was one of eighteen drivers selected for the programme of developing young talented drivers towards

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, ...

. During the season he won five rounds and gained the title of Italian Formula Renault Champion. For the 2008 season Mika signed with

Mücke Motorsport Mücke Motorsport is an auto racing team based in Germany, which is also known as ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg. History Single-seaters Mücke Motorsport was formed by Peter Mücke in 1998 to run his son Stefan Mücke in the German Formula BMW ADAC ...

to compete in the

F3 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 F ...

. He opened the season with a victory in

Hockenheimring The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has hos ...

. He finished the season 5th in the results with two wins and 5 podiums. On June 15, Mika had a serious accident at the city of

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

, driving a

Nissan 350Z : The Nissan 350Z (known as Nissan Fairlady Z (Z33) in Japan) is a two-door, two-seater sports car that was manufactured by Nissan Motor Corporation from 2002 until 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car line. The 350Z entered prod ...

. He lost control of the car at the entrance of a tunnel, where the

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...

is , according to local press a number of pedestrians were also thought to have been caught up in the incident and suffered bruising due to flying debris. Reports quoted local police as suggesting that Mäki may have been involved in a

street race Street racing is typically an unsanctioned and illegal form of auto racing that occurs on a public road. Racing in the streets is considered an ancient hazard, as horse racing occurred on streets for centuries, and street racing in automobiles i ...

. Mäki also made his

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccle ...

début in 2008 by competing in the first round of the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season for the

Arden Arden may refer to: Places ;Australia *Arden, an area in North Melbourne, Victoria near the Arden Street Oval ;Canada * Arden, Ontario ;Denmark * Arden, Denmark, a town **Arden Municipality, a former municipality, including the town of Arden ; ...

team. However, he was then 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 ...

. Mäki returned to the F3 Euroseries for the 2009 season, having signed a deal with the Signature-Plus team. Mäki finished on the podium four times, including a win at

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 ...

, and finished sixth in the championship.

Racing record

Career summary

References

External links

Official website

at Driver Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Maki, Mika Finnish racing drivers 1988 births Living people People from Pirkkala Formula 3 Euro Series drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula BMW ADAC drivers GP2 Asia Series drivers Arden International drivers Sportspeople from Pirkanmaa Eifelland Racing drivers Epsilon Euskadi drivers Mücke Motorsport drivers Signature Team drivers Hitech Grand Prix drivers Motopark Academy drivers Karting World Championship drivers Koiranen GP drivers