Niko Kari
Introduction
Niko Kari (born 6 October 1999) is a Finnish racing driver. He won his first single-seater championship in his debut year in SMP F4 Championship. He is currently competing in GP3 Series.
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 in 2016 with Motopark. He took victory at the first race at Imola after a late lunge on Lance Stroll and finished fifth in the rookie standings and tenth overall.
GP3 Series
In August 2016, Kari was also announced to take part in the GP3 rounds at Spa-Francorchamps with Koiranen GP, in place of Ralph Boschung. In November 2016, Helmut Marko confirmed Kari would move to the series full-time in 2017. In January, Kari was signed to Arden International.
Formula One
In December 2015, Kari, along with his Motopark teammate Sérgio Sette Câmara, became a member of the Red Bull Junior Team and thus becoming a test driver of Scuderia Toro Rosso. In November 2016, it was confirmed Kari would remain a part of the Junior team.
Racing record
Career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | SMP F4 Championship | Koiranen GP | 21 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 449 | 1st |
| 2016 | European Formula 3 Championship | Motopark | 30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 129 | 10th |
| Masters of Formula 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | N/A | 2nd | ||
| GP3 Series | Koiranen GP | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26th | |
| 2017 | GP3 Series | Arden International | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17th* |
* Season still in progress.
Complete FIA European Formula 3 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Motopark | Volkswagen | LEC 1 8 |
LEC 2 16 |
LEC 3 15 |
HUN 1 2 |
HUN 2 Ret |
HUN 3 8 |
PAU 1 19 |
PAU 2 11 |
PAU 3 8 |
RBR 1 20 |
RBR 2 3 |
RBR 3 8 |
NOR 1 2 |
NOR 2 12 |
NOR 3 Ret |
ZAN 1 6 |
ZAN 2 11 |
ZAN 3 11 |
SPA 1 11 |
SPA 2 10 |
SPA 3 7 |
NÜR 1 8 |
NÜR 2 10 |
NÜR 3 3 |
IMO 1 1 |
IMO 2 9 |
IMO 3 Ret |
HOC 1 14 |
HOC 2 12 |
HOC 3 13 |
10th | 129 |
Complete GP3 Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Koiranen GP | CAT FEA |
CAT SPR |
RBR FEA |
RBR SPR |
SIL FEA |
SIL SPR |
HUN FEA |
HUN SPR |
HOC FEA |
HOC SPR |
SPA FEA Ret |
SPA SPR 14 |
MNZ FEA |
MNZ SPR |
SEP FEA |
SEP SPR |
YMC FEA |
YMC SPR |
26th | 0 |
| 2017 | Arden International | CAT FEA 15 |
CAT SPR 14 |
RBR FEA |
RBR SPR |
SIL FEA |
SIL SPR |
HUN FEA |
HUN SPR |
SPA FEA |
SPA SPR |
MNZ FEA |
MNZ SPR |
JER FEA |
JER SPR |
YMC FEA |
YMC SPR |
17th* | 0* |
* Season still in progress.