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."
For more championship information visit www.gb-3.net.