Positive start to Euro Championships for Riki

Highly-rated young British racing driver Riki Christodoulou made a decent start to the 2006 CIK FIA European Championships with 2nd and 4th positions in the two finals against the continents best Karters. ‘Christo’ lies 2nd in the series standings and is currently top Brit.

The first round of three took place last Sunday at the La Conca circuit near the town of Lecce. 17 year old Christodoulou, who is driving for the Spanish Genikart team and steering the new ‘Fernando Alonso Kart’, was immediately on the pace in the top category of the sport, Formula A.

The Sutton Coldfield resident was 3rd quickest in qualifying and then proceeded to score results of 3rd, 2nd and 1st in his heat races showing some impressive speed despite two engines problems that forced some frantic mechanical work.

In the first of the finals Christo was fighting for victory but made a small mistake on the last lap and was beaten by just two tenths of a second by Italian factory Tony Kart driver Marco Ardigo. The second sprint took place in wet conditions and the former junior British Champion and 2005 British Formula A runner-up ran a lonely 4th for most of the race after the leaders had earlier escaped.

“It was an awesome weekend and I was quick right through qualifying, the heats and the finals. We were unlucky to have two engines seize on us and that meant that we had to waste a bit of time running the repairs in,” he said. “I got a bad start in the first race but caught up to the back of Ardigo and sat on his bumper. I think I moved past him too early because he was fast on one part of the circuit while I was quicker on another. I was blocking him for two laps and I tried to get the double right-hander perfect on the last lap and hit the first part of the section flat-out but ran a little bit wide on the second apex. It was still good to be back on the podium.”

“For the second final the heavens opened,” he continued. “I panicked a little bit because I have not had so much wet weather race time with the Kart and I fought back from 6th to 4th but the others had already got away. I was on my own for about 15 laps and it was a bit boring. I was catching Ardigo towards the end but ran out of time.”

“I am pleased with how the weekend went but also a little bit disappointed with 4th place because I know I can do better, “ he summarised. “Still, the result has set me up nicely for the rest of the year and has given me confidence.”

Christo is second, 8 points behind Ardigo in the provisional standings.

The second round of the European series will take place at Varennes in France on 25th of June and the five best results from the six finals will count towards the final ranking. Riki will return to La Conca this weekend for another round of the Italian Open Championship.

Final 1

1. Ardigo, Marco (ITA) Tony Kart Racing Team, 2. Christodoulou, Riki (GB) Genikart-LTP, 3. Thonon, Jonathan (BEL) CRG, 4. Rask, Aki (FIN) CRG, 5. Catt, Gary (GB) Tony Kart Racing Team, 6. Sims, Alexander (GB) CRG, 7. Bollingtoft, Nikolaj (DK) Tony Kart Racing Team, 8. Fore, Davide (I) Tony Kart Racing Team, 9. Kozlinski, Arnaud (FRA) Intrepid Kart Technology, 10. Convers, Armand (FRA) PCR

Final 2

1. Convers, Armand (FRA) PCR, 2. Kozlinski, Arnaud (FRA) Intrepid Kart Technology, 3. Ardigo, Marco (ITA) Tony Kart Racing Team, 4. Christodoulou, Riki (GB) Genikart-LTP, 5. Parente, Armando (P) DR Srl, 6. Fore, Davide (ITA) Tony Kart Racing Team, 7. Catt, Gary (GB) Tony Kart Racing Team, 8. Guignet, Jean-Philippe (FRA) CRG, 9. Litchfield, Mark (GB) PF International Karting, 10. Miskiewicz, Laurent (F) Sodikart

Championship standings after 1 of 3 rounds:

1. Ardigo, Marco 41, 2. Christodoulou, Riki 33, 3. Convers, Armand 31, 4. Kozlinski, Arnaud 27, 5. Thonon, Jonathan 20

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