Arden VRD has confirmed that Canadian driver Nico Christodoulou will return to the team for a full-season assault on the 2023 GB3 Championship.
The 17-year-old joined the championship with Arden during the third weekend of the 2022 season at Donington Park, as part of the team’s newly-established connection with the Velocity Racing Development team, whom he had raced for in the USA through 2021 and the early part of last year.
Arden’s strengthened ties with VRD for this season means Christodoulou returns for the entire campaign this time around, with both team and driver looking to mount a title challenge.
Despite missing the first quarter of the 2022 GB3 season, Christodoulou was quickly on the pace, and banked his first top-10 finishes in his second weekend at Snetterton. Top-10s became challenges for top-five finishes in the second half of the year, getting ever closer to the qualifying pace too, and ended his season with a best finish of fourth in the final race of the season at Donington Park.
The Ontario resident first competed in single-seaters in 2018 in the F2000 and Atlantic Championship, before finishing fourth overall in the 2018-19 NACAM Formula 4 series. Remaining in NACAM F4 in 2019, he was the runner-up courtesy of three wins and 11 podiums, before moving to US F2000 and F4 in 2020.
Continuing in USA F4 in 2021, he finished fourth overall with three victories and a total of 10 podiums as he joined VRD for the first time. He remained with the team as he moved up to Formula Regional Americas at the start of 2022, before switching across the Atlantic for his GB3 campaign with the Arden-VRD collaboration.
Nico Christodoulou said: “I’m really looking forward to getting back in the GB3 car this season with Arden VRD. We made really strong progress together last year, and I think our results towards the end of the season show the potential we are capable of. I want to be fighting for podiums and wins from the start, and having already done plenty of testing, I’m confident we can do that. The strengthened alliance between Arden and VRD means I’m working with people I’ve been used to for a long time, making our challenge even stronger for 2023.”
Arden Motorsport's Team Manager Jack Woodhouse said: “Coming into the championship mid-season was a challenge but we were really impressed with how Nico adapted to his change in circumstances, and particularly by his rapid improvement as the year went on. He’s a genuinely talented driver, and we hope he can lead us to a title challenge this year. Nico is an example of why we’ve aligned with VRD, there’s some excellent talent developing in the USA and we’re keen to bring those drivers over to the UK and Europe to further enhance their careers.”
VRD Racing's Dan Mitchell said: “This will be Nico's third season racing under the VRD banner, and we couldn't be happier to retain him for 2023. This season is a must win championship for both Nico and our newly-formed Arden VRD team. As a team, we have full trust in Nico and his ability to produce results in this highly competitive championship, we are looking forward to hitting the track soon.”
19 January 2023
