Eftihios "Tio" Ellinas (born 27 January 1992 in

Larnaca Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro population of 1 ...

, Cyprus) is a Cypriot race car driver. Ellinas began racing go-karts at the age of seven, and from 2003 - 2009 won 10

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

championships in Cyprus, in 2005 winning the ROK Cup International Final. He was the winner of Grand Prix Shootout in the UK in 2009 competing against 50 other top young drivers from all over the world. In 2010, he competed in the MSA Dunlop Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain racing with the

JTR JTR may refer to: * JTR (band), a Swedish boy band * JTR (song), by Dave Matthews Band * Joe Tandy Racing, a Formula Three team * Santorini (Thira) National Airport's IATA code in Greece {{disambig ...

Team. He won three races and finished fourth in the championship, the highest placing for a novice driver since

Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super G ...

in 1998, earning him "Rookie Of The Year" honors. In 2011, Ellinas raced in the UK Formula Renault 2.0 championship for the Atech Reid GP Team, finishing third overall. He joined

Marussia Marussia Motors (russian: Маруся ) was a Russian sports car company founded in 2007. It was the first Russian company to produce a supercar. It designed, and manufactured prototypes of both the B1 and the B2 sport cars. Marussia was led by for ...

Manor Racing Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, trading as Manor Racing MRT or Pertamina Manor Racing MRT, was a British Formula One racing team and constructor based in Banbury, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. The team originally started racing in 2010 ...

for the

2012 GP3 Series season The 2012 GP3 Series season was the third season of the GP3 Series, a feeder series for the GP2 Series. The season began at Barcelona on 12 May and concluded at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on 9 September after eight rounds made up of two races each ...

. In

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 fa ...

, he tested for the

Marussia F1 The Marussia F1 Team (subsequently Manor Marussia F1 Team) was a Formula One racing team and constructor which was based in Banbury, Oxfordshire and then later Dinnington, South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and competed with a Russian lice ...

Team.

Career

Karting

Ellinas' first taste of motorsport came when he was seven years old racing in karts. He competed in 131 races, winning 101 of them with 20 further podium finishes. His championship positions are as follows: *Third in Cyprus Karting Championship – KZ2 2009. *Second in ROK Cup Cyprus – Super Class 2009. *Cyprus Karting Championship – KF2 champion 2009. *Bridgestone Cup Cyprus champion in the KZ2 class 2009. *Second in Cyprus Karting Championship – KZ2 2008. *Third in ROK Cup Cyprus – Senior 2007. *Cyprus Rotax Max Challenge champion in the Junior class 2006. *Cyprus champion in the ICA Junior class 2006. *ROK Cup International Final champion in the Junior ROK class 2005. *ROK Cup Cyprus – Junior champion 2005. *Cyprus champion in the ICA Junior class 2005. *Cyprus Rotax Max Challenge champion in the Junior class 2004. *Cyprus champion in the ICA Junior class 2004. *Cyprus Rotax Max Challenge champion in the Junior class 2003.

Grand Prix Shootout

Ellinas took part in the inaugural Grand Prix Shootout competition in the United Kingdom in 2009. He was assessed by the world-famous driving coach

Rob Wilson Robert Owen Biggs Wilson (born 4 January 1965) is an English politician and political author. He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the Reading East parliamentary constituency in the 2005 general election, being re-elected in ...

in September 2009 as part of the competition. He then completed a number of sessions in a

Double R Racing Double R Racing is a motor racing team, which races in Formula Three and other junior levels of formula racing including the MSA Formula Championship for the 2016 season. The team was formed in November 2004 as Räikkönen Robertson Racing by th ...

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 k ...

car at the

Pembrey Circuit Pembrey Circuit is a motor racing circuit near Pembrey village, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is the home of Welsh motorsport, providing racing for cars, motorcycles, karts and trucks. The circuit's facilities have also been used for a single-venue ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. In January 2010, Ellinas was announced as the first Grand Prix Shootout winner at the

Autosport International Autosport International is a four-day motorsport event that includes a two-day trade show for industry professionals and a two-day public show. It is held at the NEC, in Birmingham, United Kingdom and operated by Motorsport Network, usually in ...

exhibition. He had taken on fifty other karters and drivers with over 100 major racing titles between them, and in the end was the runaway winner.

Formula Ford

Ellinas competed in the MSA Dunlop Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain with the JTR team. He was only the second driver since the legendary Ayrton Senna to start on the front row of a British Formula Ford race in his car racing debut, and was also the fastest driver at every wet test during that first year. Ellinas's fourth position overall in the 2010 MSA British Formula Ford championship earned him Rookie Of The Year honors, and is the best result for a rookie driver since the current McLaren Formula One driver and 2009 World Drivers' Champion, Jenson Button, in 1998.

Formula Renault

Ellinas competed in the Formula Renault UK championship with the Atech Reid GP team and finished third overall.

GP3 Series

Ellinas contested the

debut with

. He finished the season eighth overall, recording one win and one podium finish in the season finale at Monza.

Formula One

On 17 June 2013, it was announced that Ellinas would carry out a scheduled straightline aerodynamic evaluation test session with the Marussia Formula One team at Kemble airfield in Gloucestershire, England. In doing so, he became the first Cypriot to drive a Formula One car. As a reward for being the highest-placed Marussia Manor driver at the end of the 2012 GP3 Series season, Ellinas took part in the 2013 Young Driver Tests with Marussia F1.Ellinas to make F1 history for Cyprus
inCyprus.com.cy

Racing record

Tio Ellinas - 2017 PCCGB Knockhill (Sunday, R1)

Career summary

^† As Ellinas was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete GP3 Series results

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

Complete GP2 Series results

( key)

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete Porsche Supercup results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^⹋ No points awarded as less than 50% of race distance was completed.

Personal life

Ellinas continues to live in Larnaca, Cyprus.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellinas, Tio 1992 births Living people People from Larnaca Cypriot racing drivers Formula Ford drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship drivers GP3 Series drivers GP2 Series drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers Porsche Carrera Cup GB drivers Manor Motorsport drivers MP Motorsport drivers Walter Lechner Racing drivers Rapax Team drivers Strakka Racing drivers