Evgeny Novikov

Evgeny Maksimovich Novikov (; born 19 September 1990) is a Russian former rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2007 to 2013.

Career

Born in Moscow, Novikov won the Russian Rally Cup in 2006 and finished runner-up in both Estonian and Russian national championships in 2007. The 2007 season also saw him debut in the World Rally Championship at the season-ending 2007 Wales Rally GB.

In the 2008 season, Novikov contested a full six-event Production World Rally Championship programme as the series' youngest driver. He retired in four rallies and collected his only PWRC points at the Rally Japan, where he impressively led the category until suspension problems on the last stage dropped him narrowly behind Juho Hänninen. He still managed to stay 2.9 seconds ahead of Toshi Arai and with the eight points for the second place, he placed 13th in the championship standings.

For the 2009 season, Novikov was signed by the debuting Citroën Junior Team, Citroën Total's satellite team. With Sébastien Ogier and Conrad Rautenbach as his teammates, he will drive the Citroën C4 WRC in at least eight of the twelve rallies. He scored his first WRC points with a fifth place at the Rally d'Italia Sardegna, and his first stage win in the following event, the Acropolis Rally in Greece. He became both the first Russian and the youngest-ever driver to top the time sheets in the series.

After one year off from competition, Novikov returned to the World Rally Championship partway through in the 2011 season, making his first appearance at the Rally Mexico in a Stobart M-Sport-prepared Ford. He competed in eight of the thirteen rallies, scoring twelve points over the course of the season to finish the year seventeenth overall.

In 2012, Novikov joined M-Sport full-time. He scored his first podium at the 2012 Rally de Portugal, finishing third overall. He was promoted to second place when Citroën driver Mikko Hirvonen was excluded from the results.

For the 2013 season, Novikov joined the Qatar M-Sport WRT alongside Mads Østberg.

At the beginning of the 2013 Acropolis Rally, Novikov was the early leader after winning the first 2 stages and had a 40-second lead over Jari-Matti Latvala after stage 3. A puncture dropped him down to eighth and ruled him out for his maiden win, Latvala eventually won the rally.

Novikov failed to secure a drive for the 2014 season.

Complete WRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points 2007 Evgeny Novikov Subaru Impreza WRX STi MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRE FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN IRE GBR NC 0 2008 Evgeny Novikov Subaru Impreza WRX STi MON SWE MEX ARG JOR ITA NC 0 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX GRE TUR FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN GBR 2009 Citroën Junior Team Citroën C4 WRC IRE NOR CYP POR ARG ITA GRE POL FIN AUS ESP GBR 13th 4 2011 M-Sport Stobart Ford Fiesta RS WRC SWE MEX POR JOR ITA ARG GRE FIN GER AUS FRA 17th 12 ALM Russia Citroën DS3 WRC ESP Team Abu Dhabi Ford Fiesta RS WRC GBR 2012 M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE NZL FIN GER GBR FRA ITA ESP 6th 88 2013 Qatar M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE ITA FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR 7th 69

PWRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pos. Points 2008 Evgeny Novikov Subaru Impreza WRX STi SWE ARG 13th 8 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX GRE TUR FIN NZL JPN GBR