2003 JICA British Champion Riki Christodoulou will be one of the main stars this weekend at the Three Sisters circuit in Wigan for the opening round of the premier National BTE Lawline/Renault MSA series‘Christo’ clinched the Junior ICA title last year and now moves up to the senior ICA class to begin his campaign for back-to back Championship success.
Testing has been positive during the winter months with the team clocking some impressive times at various venues and fronting the qualifiers during February at the Winter Garda Cup in Italy from a field of 114 entrants before an untimely accident curtailed hopes for the actual trophy.
The 15 year old is expected to be one of the front-runners this weekend and will be putting a new Birel engine through its paces before deciding whether or not to adopt the new equipment for the races, as the team experiment with various technical options to give the youngster the best chance of consistently making the podium throughout the year.
The 1500m track located in the North West of England is acknowledged as one of the widest and fastest in the UK with one of the longest straights on the calendar where the Karts reach speeds of 80mph. It is also the venue where ‘Christo’ secured victory 12 months earlier.
“This weekend will be our first proper ICA race of the season, we are looking forward to it and will obviously do the best we can,” commented father and mentor Rick Christodoulou. ”We don’t know what surprises will be in store but Riki is very familiar with the track after last season and our club racing efforts.”
“Three Sisters is a fast circuit with a lot of open and quick turns. The lap times will be in between the 41s and 42s and we’ll try to give Riki the fastest set-up possible so he can keep up a momentum. Riki is excited and cannot wait to get out there; this is what we have been working towards since the end of last year.”
Among an entry of 32 racers Christo will be up against old JICA rivals such as Jon Lancaster and ’03 runner-up Freddie Martin-Dye as well as established ICA stars like last year’s vice-Champ Danny Cruttenden. The Championship is being shaped as a direct feeder into Formula Renault.
The weather is expected to be cold and cloudy over the testing days on Friday and Saturday with sunshine predicted for racing on Sunday.
Side note: Riki’s cousin Adam Christodoulou will be hoping to emulate his kinsman as he embarks on his first attempt in the JICA category at the same meeting.
