Founded | 2006 |
---|---|
Team principal(s) | Nicklas Karlsson Eric Lindgren |
Current series | WTCC |
Former series | STCC STCC (Sweden) |
Noted drivers | 17. Michel Nykjær |
Teams' Championships | 2012 STCC |
Drivers' Championships | 2011 STCC (Rydell) |
NIKA racing (short for Nicklas Karlsson Racing) is a Swedish racing team, founded by former racing driver Nicklas Karlsson along with Eric Lindgren which currently competes in the World Touring Car Championship. Before that they competed in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship where they won the teams' championship title in 2011.
Karlsson founded the team in 2006 and to run a Chevrolet Lacetti for himself under the Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden banner in Swedish Touring Car Championship in 2007, but started at two races only during the season. [1] [2]
He stepped aside for 2008 to become team manager and the team ran Norwegian Thomas Schie in their car. [3] Schie remained for the most part among the top ten and scored a best result second place in Gothenburg. He finished seventh in the drivers' championship while the team finished fifth in the teams' championship.
Schie continued for the team during the 2009 season, but was forced to leave after six races. [4] What actually was the reason for this is not entirely clear. Schie said that the team was not enough professionally, while Nicklas Karlsson said that was because Schie could not afford to continue. [5] The seat was taken over by Pontus Mörth, who completed the season. [6] He often took a few points in the races, but never came up on the podium. Mörth finished eleven in total, while Schie was fourteenth. In the team championship Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden finished fifth.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2013) |
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2013) |
In 2010 Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden joined the World Touring Car Championship for the 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Italy, running a Chevrolet Cruze LT for TC 2000 Championship driver Leonel Pernía who became the first Argentine to race in the WTCC. [7] The team were not eligible for the Yokohama Team's Trophy as the regulations exclude any teams with the name of a car manufacturer from inclusion in the trophy. Pernía finished eighteenth in race one after an excursion through the gravel trap at the Parabolica but he scored a single point in race two when he finished tenth.
The team returned to the championship in 2012, entering a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T for Rickard Rydell at the season opening 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Italy. [8] Rydell lined up fifth in qualifying and finished both races in the points, including fourth place and a fastest lap in race one.
The team running as NIKA Racing will return to the WTCC in 2013 for the full season with a single Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T. [9] They signed Michel Nykjær to drive for them having finished third in the 2012 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship season with the team. [10] However Nykjær left the team before the end of the season and was replaced by Hiroki Yoshimoto in Japan, Rickard Rydell in China and Yukinori Taniguchi in Macau respectively. [11] [12] [13]
In 2014 NIKA Racing announced that they will compete in the TC2 category with Yukinori Taniguchi driving Honda Civic [14] [15] The team ultimately appeareded only in Hungary.
For the 2015 season the team upgraded to TC1-spec Honda Civic WTCC, built by JAS Motorsport. [16] [17] Rickard Rydell returned to the series with the team. However, illness forced him to miss some early-season events, and Néstor Girolami was later drafted in to race in Slovakia and Portugal, the latter of which turned out to be the team's last-ever race meeting.
For 2016 season the team sold the Honda Civic to Zengő Motorsport to compete with a Chevrolet Cruze and the driver John Bryant-Meisner. [18] However, the team never showed up owing to financial challenges with Bryant-Meisner's sponsors, and the team withdrew from all racing activities thereafter.
Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F.L. | Points | D.C. | T.C. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | Chevrolet Cruze LT | Leonel Pernía | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22nd | – | |||
2012 | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | Rickard Rydell | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 19th | – | |||
2013 | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | Michel Nykjær | 18 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 180 | 7th | 7th | |||
Hiroki Yoshimoto | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | ||||||
Rickard Rydell | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | ||||||
Yukinori Taniguchi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | ||||||
2014 | Honda Civic WTCC | Yukinori Taniguchi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | |||
John Rickard Rydell is a retired Swedish racing driver. He won the 1998 British Touring Car Championship, the 2011 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, and has also been a frontrunner in the European/World Touring Car Championship.
Michel Nykjær is a Danish auto racing driver. Nykjær is a two-time European Touring Car Cup winner.
The 2010 World Touring Car Championship season was the seventh season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the sixth since its 2005 return. It began with the Race of Brazil at Curitiba on 7 March and ended with the Guia Race of Macau at the Guia Circuit on 21 November, after twenty-two races at eleven events. The championship was open to both Super 2000 and Diesel 2000 cars.
The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Italy was the third round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Italy. It was held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, in Monza, Italy on 23 May 2010. The two races were won by Andy Priaulx for BMW Team RBM and Yvan Muller for Chevrolet RML.
The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Germany was the eighth round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Germany. It was held at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben near Oschersleben, Germany on 5 September 2010. Race one was won by Alain Menu of Chevrolet RML and race two was by Andy Priaulx of BMW Team RBM.
The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Japan was the tenth round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the third running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held at the Okayama International Circuit near Mimasaka, Japan on 31 October 2010. The first race was won by Robert Huff of Chevrolet RML and race two was won by Colin Turkington of Team Aviva-COFCO.
The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Belgium was the second round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season. It was held at Circuit Zolder on 24 April 2011 and was the third running of the Race of Belgium, which ran at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in 2005 before leaving the calendar for four seasons until returning in the 2010 season at Zolder.
The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Italy was the opening round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the eighth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Italy. It was held on 11 March 2012 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy. Lukoil Racing driver Gabriele Tarquini took pole position for the first race, with Zengő Motorsport's Norbert Michelisz on pole for the second race after the top ten qualifiers were reversed. Both races were won by Yvan Muller for Chevrolet.
The 2013 World Touring Car Championship season was the tenth season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the ninth since the series was revived in 2005. The championship, which was reserved for cars run to Super 2000 regulations, began with the Race of Italy on 23 March and concluded with the Race of Macau in support of the Macau Grand Prix at the Guia Circuit on 17 November, after twenty-four races at twelve events.
The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Japan was the tenth round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the fourth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held on 23 October 2011 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan.
The 2011 Guia Race of Macau was the twelfth and final round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the seventh running of the Guia Race of Macau as part of the World Touring Car Championship. It was held on 20 November 2011 on the Guia Circuit in the Chinese special administrative region of Macau. The race was part of the Macau Grand Prix weekend, headlined by the 2011 Macau Grand Prix Formula Three.
The 2013 FIA WTCC Race of Italy was the opening round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season and the ninth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Italy. It was held on 24 March 2013 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy.
The 2013 FIA WTCC Race of Austria was the fifth round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season and the second running of the FIA WTCC Race of Austria. It was held on 19 May 2013 at the Salzburgring in Salzburg, Austria.
The 2014 FIA World Touring Car Championship was a motor racing competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for Super 2000 Cars. It was the eleventh FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the tenth since the series was revived in 2005.
The 2013 FIA WTCC Race of the United States was the ninth round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season and the second running of the FIA WTCC Race of the United States. It was held on 8 September 2013 at the Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California, United States.
The 2013 FIA WTCC Race of Japan was the tenth round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held on 22 September 2013 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan.
The 2013 FIA WTCC Race of China was the eleventh round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season and the third running of the FIA WTCC Race of China. It was held on 3 November 2013 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China.
The 2013 Guia Race of Macau was the final round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season and the ninth running of the Guia Race of Macau. The race was part of the Macau Grand Prix weekend, headlined by the Formula Three event. It was held on 17 November 2013 at the Guia Circuit in the Chinese special administrative region of Macau.
The 2014 FIA WTCC Race of Hungary was the third round of the 2014 World Touring Car Championship season and the fourth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Hungary. It was held on 4 May 2014 at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród near Budapest, Hungary.
The 2015 World Touring Car Championship was a motor racing competition organised by the FIA for Super 2000 cars. It was the twelfth FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the eleventh since the series was revived in 2005. The championship comprised a Drivers Championship and a Manufacturers Championship, which were won by José María López and Citroën respectively.