2003 JICA British Champion Riki Christodoulou has decided to move up to the tough Formula ICA Karting division for the 2004 season.
The 15 year old from Sutton Coldfield juggled offers to switch from the Kart to a single-seater berth in both Formula Renault and the new Formula BMW series’ but has elected to continue his education by seeing out another small wheel campaign at the highest level of the discipline despite his relatively tender years.
“Different options kept popping up at a late stage and at one point I was looking into doing both racing series,” said the youngster. “However, after some thinking, we felt it might be a little too early to move to single-seater and I am more than happy to stay Karting for another year. There are still things for me to learn. The ICA level is faster and against a much older age range, making the racing more physical.”
“I am already feeling good with the quicker engine and we had a really positive test last week in the cold, lapping at the pace of the current British Champion, so early signs are encouraging.”
A busy season is now being mapped out for the hottest young talent on the UK motorsport scene. While the main aim will be to re-produce his triumphant 2003 term in the ’04 Super One ICA British series, Christo is also committed to the Belgian and Italian Open competitions as well as the annual European Championship.
“The decision to stay within Karting this year was a relatively simple one to make,” commented father and mentor Rick Christodoulou. “The Formula series’ offers were very tempting but we did not have time to get the financial backing to make a serious go of it. Another year Karting will certainly not do Riki any harm and we may still have the chance to do some single seater testing throughout the season.”
“We have been really happy with our tests in the last few weeks and I am confident that Riki can do a good job. He has already seriously stepped up his game and is brimming with confidence after 2003. He now has to get over the slight psychological barrier that he is racing at senior level against fully grown men, for this reason his first meeting might be a bit shaky but I think Riki will cause some real damage this year.”
Christodoulou is currently testing every other week as part of his preparations for the coming racing schedule. The first major meeting on the calendar takes place at South Garda for the Garda Winter Cup on February 14th and 15th in Italy near Brescia where he has hopes of a podium.
