Kristján Einar Kristjánsson (born 8 January 1989) is an Icelandic

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

. He started racing in karts at 14, the age when Icelandic law allows drivers to start racing karts. He is the first ever driver to emerge from Icelandic motorsport (karting) into full international formula racing series. Kristján Einar is a podcast host of the podcast show The Pit along with Bragi "The B-Dog" Thordarson who is most often called The River Boy. Kristján's nickname in The Pit is The K-Seal

Karting career

Kristján Einar was born in

Garðabær Garðabær () is a town and municipality in the Capital Region of Iceland. History Garðabær is a growing town in the Capital Region. It is the fifth largest municipality in Iceland with a population of 20,116 (1 January 2025). The site of Gar ...

. He started racing karts at 14, the age when Icelandic law allows drivers to start racing karts. As the only teenager competing, Kristján finished up 8th in his debut season of 2003, starting his racing caree
rolling his gokart(Video)
. The following year Kristjan was back racing, this time finishing the 2004 season in 4th place, the following season finishing second and the highlight being the 2006 season, winning the Icelandic National karting championship, and still holding that title to date.

Toyota Racing Series

To kick off his single-seater racing career, Kristján Einar took advantage of southern hemisphere racing. During the winter break in the UK, and went to New Zealand to compete his first international races, finishing three rounds in the

Toyota Racing Series The Formula Regional Oceania Championship is New Zealand's premier formula racing category. The series includes races for every major trophy in New Zealand circuit racing including the New Zealand Motor Cup and the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy. ...

; adding to his experience and getting quicker every lap, Einar earned the necessary racing experience he needed to start his season in the

2008 British Formula Three season The 2008 Formula 3 International Series was the 58th British Formula 3 International Series season. It began on 24 March 2008 at Oulton Park's Easter Monday meeting and ended on 12 October at Donington Park after 22 rounds in four countries. J ...

. Einar teamed up with Matt Halliday at Triple X Motorsport.

2008 British Formula Three season

Kristján Einar's first full racing season was the

with

Carlin Motorsport Carlin, formerly known as Carlin Motorsport and Rodin Carlin, was a motor racing team based in the United Kingdom. It primarily competed in junior racing championships such as FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3. Carlin also competed in top level ...

. Kristján's entry caught attention; a driver coming from a country with no racetrack and going almost directly from karting into the most successful

British Formula Three The British Formula Three Championship was an international Auto racing, motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level Formula racing, feeder formula ...

team ever. Kristján raced in the national class, and scored his first podium at the third round of the season, at

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

. Kristján missed the last three races of the season, and finish seventh in the national class. Kristján Einar was part of a very strong Carlin lineup, this helped him improve at a very fast pace, Kristján's teammate in the national class was Andrew Meyrick and Carlin's championship lineup was

Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero (; born 23 March 1990), also known by his stage name Squire, is a Spanish former racing driver, sports broadcasting, broadcaster and DJ, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Barcelona, Al ...

Brendon Hartley Brendon Morris Hartley (born 10 November 1989) is a New Zealand racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Motorsport GmbH, Toyota. Hartley competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing (motorsport) ...

Oliver Turvey Oliver Jonathan Turvey (born 1 April 1987) is a British people, British professional racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula E, and is currently signed to DS Penske as a reserve driver and a sporting advisor. He was a notable Karti ...

and Sam Abay.

2009 European F3 Open season

For 2009, Kristján inked a last minute deal with British racing team West-Tec, to race in the 2009 European F3 Open Championship, teaming up with team mates Christian Ebbesvik and Callum MacLeod. Kristján races in a Dallara 306 chassis, allowing him to compete for both overall honors, and the Copa cup. Kristján scored his first podium of the season at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport Race track, circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, sti ...

Testing

Kristján Einar started his career testing

Formula BMW Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young ...

with

for the second half of the 2007 season, aiming at entering the 2008 Formula BMW UK championship. When the FBMW UK changed into Formula BMW Europe Kristján was offered to test more powerful cars with Carlin Motorsport and 7 months to the day he first drove a single seater, he was on the grid of the British Formula 3. After a full year of successful racing in Britain, Kristján started looking elsewhere, and headed off to the USA, to test for the famous

Newman Wachs Racing Newman Wachs Racing (also referred to as NWR) is an auto racing team owned by Eddie Wachs and, until his death, Paul Newman. NWR was based outside of Chicago in Mundelein, Illinois. Newman and Wachs met when they both competed in Can-Am series in t ...

for the

Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship Series is an American open-wheel racing series with races throughout North America. It has previously been called Champ Car Atlantics, Toyota Atlantics (after its then engine supplier for sponsorship reasons), or just ...

. After a good outing at

Sebring International Raceway Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility in the Southeastern United States, southeastern United States, located near Sebring, Florida. Sebring Raceway is one of the oldest continuously operating race tracks in the U.S ...

Kristján was about to sign up for the

2009 Atlantic Championship season The 2009 IMSA Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship season was the thirty-sixth Atlantic Championship, Atlantic Championship season. It was the first full season of the Championship under the sanctioning of the International Motor Sports Associatio ...

when sponsorship fell through. Kristján Einar has always had a passion for sportscars, and in 2009 he was offered to try out the new Formula Le Mans Cup prototype at the Paul Ricard Circuit in France.

External links

Official website
*
Team West-Tec Official website

Carlin Motorsport Official website

Newman Wachs Racing Official website

European F3 Open Official website

British F3 International Series Official website

Toyota Racing Series Official website

The Icelandic motorsport association Official website

Triple X motorsport Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Einar, Kristjan 1989 births Living people British Formula Three Championship drivers Toyota Racing Series drivers Icelandic racing drivers FIA E-Rally Regularity Cup drivers People from Garðabær Carlin racing drivers Team West-Tec drivers Euroformula Open Championship drivers Sportspeople from Reykjavík