Niko Kari (born 6 October 1999) is a Finnish racing driver who last raced in the

FIA Formula 3 Championship The FIA Formula 3 Championship is a third-tier international single-seater racing championship and organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship launched in 2019 as a feeder series for the FIA Formula 1 W ...

with

Jenzer Motorsport Jenzer Motorsport is an auto racing team based in Switzerland. Founded in 1993 by Andreas Jenzer the team is currently competing in FIA Formula 3, Italian F4 and F4 Spanish and has had a number of drivers who would turn out to be successful in ...

. He won his first

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 ...

championship, the

2015 SMP F4 Championship The 2015 SMP F4 Championship season in motorsport, was the inaugural season of the SMP F4 Championship, a racing series regulated according to Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA Formula 4 regulations. It was a motor racing series for ...

, in his debut year in car racing and is a former member of 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 ...

Career

Karting

Kari started karting in 2009 and took part in his first race in 2010. He raced in several national karting series in Finland from 2010 to 2013. In 2014, Kari moved to KF European where he finished fifth overall.

Junior formulae

Kari moved to single-seaters in 2015, starting in the new SMP F4 Championship. He won seven races and took the title with three races to spare. Kari moved to

European Formula 3 Championship The FIA Formula 3 European Championship was a European Formula Three(F3) auto racing competition, organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). After one season of the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy, the FIA revived th ...

in 2016 with Motopark. He took victory at the first race at

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...

after a late lunge on

Lance Stroll Lance Strulovitch (born 29 October 1998), better known as Lance Stroll, is a Canadian–Belgian racing driver competing under the Canadian flag in Formula One. He has driven for Aston Martin since , having previously driven for Williams and R ...

and finished fifth in the rookie standings and tenth overall.

GP3 Series and Formula 3

2016

In August 2016, Kari was also announced to take part in the GP3 rounds at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has he ...

with

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 ...

, in place of

Ralph Boschung Ralph Boschung (born 23 September 1997) is a Swiss racing driver set to compete in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Campos Racing. He is a race winner in the GP3 Series and has previously competed in Formula 2 from to , for Campos, MP Mot ...

. He retired from the first race, and finished 14th in the second, scoring no points.

2017

In November 2016,

Helmut Marko Helmut Marko (born 27 April 1943) is an Austrian former professional racing driver and current advisor to the Red Bull GmbH Formula One teams, and head of Red Bull's driver development program. Biography Marko was born in Graz, Austria. He wa ...

confirmed Kari would move to the series full-time in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. In January, Kari was signed to

Arden International Arden International is a multiple formula racing team created and run by Christian Horner and Garry Horner. It currently runs teams in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and F4 British Championship, and formerly ran in the FIA Formula 2 Championship ...

. Kari finished the season with one race victory, one third place finish, 63 points and 10th place in drivers' championship. He was dropped from the

after the season.

2018

Kari continued to race in GP3 switching to

MP Motorsport MP Motorsport (previously Marcel Peters Motorsport) is a Dutch auto racing team currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. The team has also participated in Auto GP, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern Europea ...

for the 2018 campaign. After 14 races into the season Kari was promoted to

FIA Formula 2 Championship The FIA Formula 2 Championship is a second-tier single-seater championship organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Held on racing circuits, the championship was introduced in 2017, following the rebranding of the lo ...

with MP Motorsport for the remainder of the 2018 season. As a result, Kari finished the season with three point scoring finishes, six total points, and a 17th place in the drivers' championship.

2019

For the rebranded 2019 F3 season, Kari would drive for

Trident Racing Trident Racing is a motor racing team that competes in single-seater formula racing. It was founded in 2006 in order to compete in the GP2 championship, which was Europe's second highest-ranking single-seater formula below Formula One. Trident is ...

, and he would achieve two podiums, both 3rd place finished, in Barcelona and Sochi. He finished 12th in the championship with 36 points.

Formula 2

Kari was promoted to

with

for the last two weekends of the 2018 season replacing

. He retired in both races held in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

, finished 15th in the first race of

Yas Marina Circuit The Yas Marina Circuit (Arabic: حلبة مرسى ياس) is the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, and is situated on Yas Island, near Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Yas Marina was ...

, and retired again in the season closing second race in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

Formula One

In December 2015, Kari, along with his Motopark teammate

Sérgio Sette Câmara Sérgio Sette Câmara Filho (born 23 May 1998) is a Brazilian racing driver who currently drives for NIO 333 FE Team in Formula E. He was a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, having formerly been a test and development driver for McLaren. Car ...

, became a member of the

and thus becoming a test driver of

Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso (; literal translation of "Red Bull Racing Team"), commonly known as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, was an Italian Formula One racing team. It was one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Red ...

. In November 2016, it was confirmed Kari would remain a part of the Junior team. In August of the following year, Kari was dismissed from the program.

European Le Mans Series

For the

2020 European Le Mans Series The 2020 European Le Mans Series was the seventeenth season of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) European Le Mans Series. The six-event season began at Circuit Paul Ricard on 19 July and finished at Algarve International Circuit on 1 Novemb ...

, Kari signed with

EuroInternational EuroInternational is a racing organization (which includes Italian division EuroInternational Srl and American division EuroInternational Inc.) owned by Antonio Ferrari, grandnephew of Enzo Ferrari, formerly known as Euromotorsport. History Origi ...

, in the

LMP3 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were creat ...

class. They finished fourth overall in the category, with a 2nd, a 3rd, two 6th, and a 7th place finish during the year.

Return to racing

In 2022, following a year out of racing, Kari joined

FIA Formula 3 The FIA Formula 3 Championship is a third-tier international single-seater racing championship and organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship launched in 2019 as a feeder series for the FIA Formula 1 W ...

, partnering

Ido Cohen Ido Cohen (born 16 August 2001) is an Israeli racing driver who is currently competing in the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship for Rodin Carlin. Career summary Lower formulae Cohen made his car racing debut in 2018, racing in Italian F4 ...

and fellow Finn

William Alatalo William Alatalo (born 19 April 2002) is a Finnish-Ethiopian racing driver from Ilmajoki who most recently raced for Jenzer Motorsport in the FIA Formula 3 Championship. Career Karting Alatalo started karting in 2009. He had a successful ka ...

for the opening Bahrain round. He finished the races in 26th and 14th, the former race was derailed by a puncture. Following Bahrain, however, he would be replaced by

Federico Malvestiti Federico Malvestiti (born 12 June 2000) is an Italian racing driver who most recently competed in the FIA F3 Championship for Jenzer Motorsport. He is a race winner in the Italian F4 Championship. Career Karting Malvestiti was born in Monz ...

. Kari ranked 30th in the standings overall.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete SMP F4 Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results

(

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

Complete GP3 Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

(

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kari, Niko 1999 births Living people People from Hyvinkää Finnish racing drivers Karting World Championship drivers FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers Finnish GP3 Series drivers FIA Formula 2 Championship drivers SMP F4 Championship drivers FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers Formula Regional European Championship drivers Arden International drivers MP Motorsport drivers Trident Racing drivers Sportspeople from Uusimaa KIC Motorsport drivers Jenzer Motorsport drivers Koiranen GP drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Motopark Academy drivers EuroInternational drivers Le Mans Cup drivers