16 Jan 09

Evgeny Novikov

Fast Facts	�
Nationality:	Russian
Date of birth:	19/09/1990
Team:	Citroen Junior World Rally Team
Co-driver:	Dale Moscatt
Championship titles:	None
WRC debut:	Wales Rally GB 2007
WRC wins:	None
Website:	www.citroen-wrc.com
Why support him?	He started rallying when he was just 15 Undoubtedly one of the brightest young stars of the WRC His class leading performance in Japan 2008 was remarkable This year he's stepping up to the big league with one of the best cars in the WRC

Career highlights:

2008: Six event P-WRC programme.

2007: Runner-up in both Estonian and Russian Championships. WRC event debut on Wales Rally GB

2006: Winner of Russian Rally Cup

Career summary:

Like many competition drivers, Evgeny's career began on a karting track when he was a youngster. Competing seriously from the age of 10, over the next five years his karting programme expanded from events in his native Russia to include those in France, Germany and the European series too.

At the same time as Evgeny's karting career was taking off, however, his father developed an interest in rally driving and started taking lessons from Russian Champion Alexei Vosiliev. This was to have a huge impact of Evgeny's choice of career. He showed a keen interest in his father's new hobby and after learning about pacenotes, aged 13, he became his father's co-driver on selected regional rallies and even a round of the Russian Championship.

Evgeny's real interest remained driving but he had to wait until he was 15 before he could take the wheel of a rally car. His first event was the opening round of the 2006 Russian Cup series, and his first car a Mitsubishi Lancer. After a great start Evgeny was in line to finish second overall until the rally leader - his father - sportingly pulled over to let him win his first event. Evgeny went on to win the series, even though he was under the legal driving age in Russia. To get around this problem his navigator drove the car on road sections.

In 2007 he tackled more rallies in Russian and Estonia, and rounded off the year with a WRC debut on Wales Rally GB. After trading times with established P-WRC drivers on the opening two days, the event ended in disappointment when he went off the road on the final day.

His appetite whetted, in 2008 Evgeny contested a full six-event P-WRC programme and became the series' youngest driver. He retired from four rallies but almost won the category on Rally Japan, before suspension problems on the final stage dropped him to second. Nevertheless the performance marked him out as an extraordinary talent, and it was no great surprise that he was signed to Citroen's new Junior Team for an eight-round programme in 2009. He's just the sort of young, talented driver the French team is hoping to mould into the WRC stars of the future.