Niko Kari

Niko Petteri Kari (born 6 October 1999) is a Finnish former racing driver who last raced in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Jenzer Motorsport. He won his first single-seater championship, the 2015 SMP F4 Championship, in his debut year in car racing and is a former member of the Red Bull Junior Team.

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 and Formula 3 2016 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. He retired from the first race, and finished 14th in the second, scoring no points.

2017 In November 2016, Helmut Marko confirmed Kari would move to the series full-time in 2017. In January, Kari was signed to Arden International. Kari finished the season with one race victory, one third place finish, 63 points and tenth place in drivers' championship. He was dropped from the Red Bull Junior Team after the season. After 14 races into the season Kari was promoted to FIA Formula 2 Championship 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, and he would achieve two podiums, both third place finished, in Barcelona and Sochi. He finished 12th in the championship with 36 points.

Formula 2 Kari was promoted to FIA Formula 2 Championship with MP Motorsport for the last two weekends of the 2018 season replacing Ralph Boschung. In August of the following year, Kari was dismissed from the program.

European Le Mans Series For the 2020 European Le Mans Series, Kari signed with EuroInternational, in the LMP3 class. They finished fourth overall in the category, with a second, a third, two sixths, and a seventh place finish during the year.

Return to racing In 2022, following a year out of racing, Kari joined Jenzer Motorsport in FIA Formula 3, partnering Ido Cohen and fellow Finn William Alatalo 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. Kari ranked 30th in the standings overall.

Karting record

Karting career summary SeasonSeriesTeamPosition 2010 ROK Cup International Final - Mini ROK 2011 Finnish KF6 Challenge 1st 2012 17° South Garda Winter Cup - KF3 33rd WSK Master Series - KF3 Ward Racing 15th CIK-FIA European Championship - KF3 40th 41° Trofeo delle Industrie - KF3 7th Viking Trophy - KF3 8th Finnish Championship - KF3 13th WSK Euro Series - KF3 33rd FIA Karting World Cup - KF3 13th WSK Final Cup - KF3 7th 2013 Finnish Championship - KF32nd WSK Super Master Series - KF Junior 10th 18° South Garda Winter Cup - KF3 30th WSK Euro Series - KF Junior 16th CIK-FIA European Championship - KF Junior 21st CIK-FIA World Championship - KF Junior 8th 2014 WSK Champions Cup - KF 17th WSK Super Master Series - KF 5th CIK-FIA European Championship - KF Ward Racing 5th CIK-FIA World Championship - KF 13th

Racing record

Racing 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 FIA Formula 3 European 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 15 1 0 1 2 63 10th 2018 GP3 Series MP Motorsport 14 0 0 0 0 6 17th FIA Formula 2 Championship 4 0 0 0 0 0 24th 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship Trident 16 0 0 0 2 36 12th Formula Regional European Championship KIC Motorsport 3 0 0 0 0 26 15th 2020 European Le Mans Series - LMP3 Eurointernational 5 0 0 1 2 55 4th 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship Jenzer Motorsport 2 0 0 0 0 0 30th

Complete SMP F4 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points 2015 AHV1 AHV2 AHV3 MSC11 MSC12 MSC13 SOC1 SOC2 SOC3 ALA1 ALA2 ALA3 AUD11 AUD12 AUD13 MSC21 MSC22 MSC23 AUD21 AUD22 AUD23 1st 449

Complete FIA Formula 3 European 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 LEC1 LEC2 LEC3 HUN1 HUN2 HUN3 PAU1 PAU2 PAU3 RBR1 RBR2 RBR3 NOR1 NOR2 NOR3 ZAN1 ZAN2 ZAN3 SPA1 SPA2 SPA3 NÜR1 NÜR2 NÜR3IMO1 IMO2 IMO3 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 10th 129

Complete GP3 Series/FIA Formula 3 Championship 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 CATFEA CATSPR RBRFEA RBRSPR SILFEA SILSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR SEPFEA SEPSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 26th 0 2017 Arden International CATFEA CATSPR RBRFEA RBRSPR SILFEA SILSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR JERFEA JERSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 10th 63 2018 MP Motorsport CATFEA CATSPR LECFEA LECSPR RBRFEA RBRSPR SILFEA SILSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR SOCFEA SOCSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 17th 6 2019 Trident CATFEA CATSPR LECFEA LECSPR RBRFEA RBRSPR SILFEA SILSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR SOCFEA SOCSPR 12th 36 2022 Jenzer Motorsport BHRSPR BHRFEA IMOSPR IMOFEA CATSPR CATFEA SILSPR SILFEA RBRSPR RBRFEA HUNSPR HUNFEA SPASPR SPAFEA ZANSPR ZANFEA MNZSPR MNZFEA 30th 0 † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points MP Motorsport BHRFEA BHRSPR BAKFEA BAKSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR LECFEA LECSPR RBRFEA RBRSPR SILFEA SILSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR SOCFEA SOCSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 24th 0

Complete European Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)