Matias Köykkä (born November 23, 1994) is a Finnish racing driver. He won the

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Karting career

Matias started karting when he was 8 years old in the Finnish 'Raket' class. His father entered him in races until 2009. For 2009 Matias signed with the CRG factory team. He won the Finnish championship in the KF3 class. For 2010 he stepped up to the KF2 class and also competed in the CIK-FIA Under 18 World Championship. In the CIK-FIA Under 18 World Championship he finished second behind

Jake Dennis Jake Dennis (born 16 June 1995) is a British racing driver, who competes in Formula E for Andretti Global, Andretti and serves as a factory driver for BMW in motorsport, BMW. Dennis won the 2022–23 Formula E World Championship with Andretti. ...

. In 2011 he was placed 15th in the Finnish KF2 championship. He also raced in the KF1 class.

Formula racing

Matias Köykkä made his first appearance in a racing car in 2011. He raced in the Finnish Formula Ford Junior championship in a Duratec powered

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SJ08 prepared by LMS Racing. In the three races he competed in he had one win, 2 podium finishes and 1 fastest lap. He was eventually placed 10th in the championship. Teammate

Antti Buri Antti Buri (born 2 December 1988) is a Finnish racing driver currently TCR Italian Series champion, having previously competed in the ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship, ADAC TCR Germany Blancpain Endurance Series, Porsche Carrera Cup Ge ...

took the championship. In 2011 Matias moved to

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

where he continued to go to high school at

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. For 2012 he signed with Cape Motorsports w/

Wayne Taylor Wayne Taylor (born 15 July 1956) is a South African sports car racing driver and team owner. He won the 1996 and 2005 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 2005 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype drivers' championship. He drove for Su ...

Racing. During the first practice of the season, at

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, he was the fastest of 20 drivers. The season started smoothly for Köykkä with wins at Virginia and Lime Rock. Race 5 at

New Jersey Motorsports Park New Jersey Motorsports Park is a road course "Motorsports Entertainment Complex" located in Millville, Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States. It has hosted races since opening in 2008 and currently hosts a schedule including MotoAmerica ...

was a low point. Matias shut off the engine while leading the race, but managed to recover to sixth position. Due to this mistake his nearest competitor

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driver Brandon Newey was hot on his tail. After this Matias scored 6 podium finishes, including 2 wins, in the 7 remaining races. This secured Matias Köykkä of the championship placing Brandon Newey second place and Jeremy Grenier in third.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koykka, Matias Finnish racing drivers Living people 1994 births Karting World Championship drivers Wayne Taylor Racing drivers