Riki Christodoulou

Riki Christodoulou
Riki Christodoulou
Nationality	British
Born	15 July 1988 (age 35); Sutton Coldfield (England)
Related to	Adam Christodoulou (cousin)
British F3 career
Debut season	2009
Current team	Fortec Motorsport
Car number	51
Starts	20
Wins	1
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	5th in 2009
Previous series
2007– 08 ; 2007; 2007 ; 2006–07	Formula Renault UK ; French Formula Renault ; Formula Renault NEC ; FRUK Winter Series

Last updated April 07, 2024

Riki James Christodoulou (born 15 July 1988) is a British racing driver, born in Sutton Coldfield. His cousin Adam Christodoulou is also a British Racing Driver.

Career

Karting

Christodoulou began racing in 1996, and has raced karts in the UK, Italy, France, Belgium, including winning at Spa, and in Japan.^[1] However, it wasn't until 1999 when he started to make waves on the British karting circuit. He won the Shennington Kart Club's Formula Cadet class, edging out cousin Adam by only two points – 217 to 215. Both Christodoulous struggled the following season, with Adam coming 7th and Riki 14th. Riki got the edge on Adam in the National Cadet Championship, with Riki finishing 5th, 60 points behind champion Alexander Sims. After a somewhat disappointing 2001 in the TKM class, Riki moved into the Intercontinental A Junior class for 2002. 5th place in the Super 1 JICA Championship led him towards a championship campaign in 2003. He did indeed win the championship, edging out Freddie Martin-Dye by just 2 points.^[2] He and Martin-Dye both moved up into the main ICA class, and Riki finished joint third in the championship – amazingly missing out on the title by 3 points, finishing tied with Dan Cruttenden. Formula A beckoned and Riki ended 2005 with two runner-up positions – losing to Jason Edgar in the British Open and Mark Litchfield in Super 1 (Riki tied with Gary Catt and Jason Parrott for second). Riki's final season of karting came in 2006, when he had another 2nd – this time coming in the European Championship – beaten only by legendary Italian Marco Ardigò.

Formula Renault

Riki moved up to Formula Renault for the 2006 UK Winter Series. Driving for Fortec Motorsports team, Riki finished 5th in the championship, which was dominated by French interloper Franck Mailleux. He competed in the main championship for the first time in 2007. Riki had a solid season, with 7 podiums including a maiden victory coming at the final round at Thruxton leaving him sixth in the championship. Another Winter Series campaign followed, and while the series was dominated the non-points-scoring Valtteri Bottas, Christo finished runner-up behind Richard Singleton. Riki also won a round of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup at Oschersleben.^[3] A sophomore season of FRUK occurred in 2008, and again Riki scored consistently, with nine podiums and two wins for a fifth place overall championship standing. Cousin Adam went on to win the title with 7 wins and eleven podiums.

Formula Three

Riki was looking to move up into the British Formula 3 Championship for the 2009 season, and at the first pre-season test, Riki was underneath the Formula Three lap record at Snetterton.^[4] On 3 April 2009 Christodoulou signed a deal to drive for Fortec Motorsport in the series.^[5] Riki took his first win in the series at Snetterton, holding off championship leader Daniel Ricciardo, Walter Grubmüller and Renger van der Zande.^[6] He had one win and four podiums in 2009, unfortunately having 5 DNF's during the season, costing him a lot of points. He finished fifth overall in the championship standings, also being the Top Rookie. Christodoulou returned to Formula Renault UK in 2010 for the last half of the season with CRS Racing for one round, then Fortec Motorsport for the latter and finished 11th in points with one win and four podiums. He returned to British F3 in 2011 for three race meetings and finished 12th in points for Hitech Racing with one win and three podiums.

Sports cars

In 2012 Christodoulou left open-wheel cars for sports cars and competed in the GT3 class of the British GT Championship in a Team WFR Ginetta G55. He competed in seven races but failed to score.

Related Research Articles

Jon Francis Lancaster is a British auto racing driver.

James Walker is a professional racing driver from Great Britain.

Adam Robert Christodoulou is a Greek-British racing driver, who won the 2008 British Formula Renault Championship and also won the 2009 Star Mazda Championship in the United States. His cousin Riki Christodoulou is also a racing driver, having competed in British Formula 3 Championship.

Harry William Tincknell is a British professional racing driver currently racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Dempsey-Proton Racing. He won the LMP2 class on his Le Mans 24 Hour race debut in 2014 and again in LMGTE Pro in 2020, the first driver in the race's history to win in both LMP2 and LMGTE Pro. Other notable victories include the 2016 European Le Mans Series title and the overall win at the 2020 12 Hours of Sebring.

Adriano Buzaid is a Brazilian racing driver.

Alexander George Oliver Sims is a British professional racing driver, currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Whelen Engineering Racing. Previously Sims has driven in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship for Mahindra Racing and BMW i Andretti Motorsport, winning one race in Saudi Arabia.

William Bratt is a British racing driver. He previously competed in the British Touring Car Championship with Rob Austin Racing.

James John Calado is a British professional racing driver from England who is competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and other selected GT races for AF Corse. He won the LMGTE Pro class of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship and 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, and overall victory in the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans. He drove for Panasonic Jaguar Racing in Formula E. His career has been funded by the Racing Steps Foundation.

Daniel McKenzie is a British professional racing driver from England.

Oliver "Oli" James Webb is a British auto racing driver. He is a 2004 Karting Champion, 2007 Formula BMW Scholarship winner, 2010 Formula 3 competitor, 2014 European Le Mans series Champion, 2015 Dubai 24 Hour Champion, and W Motors Ambassador.

The 2010 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship was the 22nd British Formula Renault Championship. The season began at Thruxton on 3 April and ended on 10 October at Brands Hatch, after twenty rounds held in England, and for the first time since 2006, Scotland. Making its debut in the series in 2010 was the new-specification car, designed by Barazi-Epsilon, replacing the Tatuus chassis that had been in the series since 2000.

Maksim "Max" Sergeyevich Snegirev is a Russian racing driver. He currently resides in London.

The Protyre 2012 Formula Renault BARC season was a multi-event motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across England. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded drivers competing in 2 litre Formula Renault single seat race cars that conform to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2012 season was the 18th Formula Renault BARC Championship; the season began at Snetterton 200 on 7 April and ended on 7 October at Silverstone, after fourteen races, all held in England.

Oliver Eric Rowland is a British racing driver. He currently competes in Formula E driving for Nissan Formula E Team. He has previously competed for Manor Motorsport in the 2018 WEC season, and he was also previously the young driver of Williams F1 Team during the 2018 Formula 1 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Malvern</span> British racing driver

Scott Aaron Malvern is a British racing driver, currently competing in the British GT Championship who is best known for winning the 2011 British Formula Ford Championship, the 2012 Formula Renault BARC championship and twice being nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.Malvern was also awarded the British Racing Drivers Club Henry Surtees Award in 2011 and the Autosport Club Driver of the Year in 2012. Scott's younger brother Jon was also a successful kart racing driver and then set up his own performance & fitness company for racing drivers and is also the personal performance coach for Formula One driver Lando Norris

Matthew Parry is a British racing driver.

Edward Jones is an Emirati-born British racing driver who competes part-time in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, driving the No. 20 Oreca 07 for High Class Racing, and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 24/26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. Primarily an open wheel racing driver, Jones previously competed in the Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula Three, Indy Lights, IndyCar Series and FIA World Endurance Championship.

Ben George Barnicoat is a British racing driver. He is a Lexus Racing USA factory racing driver, making his IMSA SportsCar Championship debut in 2022. He returns for a second season with Lexus and Vasser Sullivan Racing, and kicked off the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship with a podium finish at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Johnathan Hoggard is a British racing driver who most recently competed in the FIA Formula 3 Championship for Jenzer Motorsport.

Joel Granfors, is a Swedish racing driver currently competing in the 2023 USF Pro 2000 Championship with Exclusive Autosport. He previously competed in the 2022 GB3 Championship with Fortec Motorsport, taking the runners-up position.

References

↑ "Formula Renault UK Drivers No. 8 – Riki Christodoulou". Renaultsport. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
↑ "Super 1 - MSA Series, Round 6 - PF International - 14/09/03". UK Karting. 14 September 2003. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
↑ "NEC F.Renault 2.0: Uitslagen Oschersleben". Autosport.be. 8 July 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2009.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
↑ "Christo on top in maiden test". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
↑ English, Steven (3 April 2009). "Christodoulou confirms Fortec drive". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications . Retrieved 3 April 2009.
↑ Anderson, Ben (5 July 2009). "Christodoulou takes maiden F3 win". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications . Retrieved 5 July 2009.

External links

Christodoulou's official site
Riki Christodoulou career summary at DriverDB.com
Interview with Christodoulou on the Driver's Database
Christodoulou on Renault Sport
Christodoulou interviewed on Formula Kart Stars

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Formula Renault UK Drivers No. 8 – Riki Christodoulou". Renaultsport. Retrieved 28 February 2009.

[2] "Super 1 - MSA Series, Round 6 - PF International - 14/09/03". UK Karting. 14 September 2003. Retrieved 28 February 2009.

[3] "NEC F.Renault 2.0: Uitslagen Oschersleben". Autosport.be. 8 July 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2009.^{[ permanent dead link ]}

[4] "Christo on top in maiden test". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2009.

[5] English, Steven (3 April 2009). "Christodoulou confirms Fortec drive". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications . Retrieved 3 April 2009.

[6] Anderson, Ben (5 July 2009). "Christodoulou takes maiden F3 win". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications . Retrieved 5 July 2009.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]