:: Henri Karjalainen web ::

News

17.8.2008 Henri gets his career best result in Atlantic Championship at Trois-Rivieres

Finnish rookie Henri Karjalainen picked up the first top-10 result of his Atlantic career with a 10th-place performance in the No. 2 GNLD machine for Montreal's Jensen MotorSport. Previously, Karjalainen's best result was 11th in the second race of the Edmonton doubleheader.

www.champcar-atlantic.com

Pictures from the event

28.7.2008 Karjalainen has Strong Run at Edmonton Indy

Henri Karjalainen enjoyed a strong weekend at the Edmonton Indy race on the weekend of July 24-26, driving the #2 LTC Rakennus Team Jensen entry in the Atlantic Championship series.

First year driver Karjalainen is facing a steep learning curve this year, competing on circuits for the first time against a field of drivers primarily comprised of veterans of the Atlantic championship. Consistently making up the gap, Karjalainen finished a strong 11th place in the final race of the Edmonton Indy event, just missing a top 10 finish.

Team engineer Adam Marchitto states, "The Atlantic championship is very tough. Most of the drivers this season are veterans of this series, so not only do they have more experience with the cars, the other drivers also have experience on each of the circuits that we visit. We are excited by the prospects for Henri to challenge well inside the top 10 though for the rest of the season, as his race pace in the final race at Edmonton was consistently among the top 5 drivers. If we had a mid race caution flag, I am sure that's where we would have finished."

The Edmonton Indy also was significant as it was the first appearance of the Atlantic Championship series in support of the unified INDYCAR SERIES. Team owner Eric Jensen noted, "Things feel very similar to the CART series days in the late 90's; with the same teams and level of professionalism. This certainly bodes well for a strong future for American open-wheel racing."

Driver Karjalainen and Jensen MotorSport would also like to thank the 11 sponsor guests who made the trek all the way from Helsinki Finland to Edmonton to support Henri at this race.

With a short break, the Jensen MotorSport team returns to action on the weekend of August 8-10 at the Road America circuit in Wisconsin for rounds #6 and #7 of the Atlantic championship.

www.jensenmotorsport.com

Pictures from the event

29.6.2008 Mont Tremblant ATLANTIC Race Review

Jensen MotorSport returned to action at the picturesque road course circuit in Mont-Tremblant Quebec on the weekend of July 27-29.

Finnish driver Henri Karjalainen piloted the JMS team’s #2 Swift Cosworth for his 3rd race in the Mazda powered ATLANTIC championship. The race ended abruptly when Henri had a big off at the midway point of the race in the 140 mph turn 10 righthander. Henri made heavy contact with the tire wal, but was unhurt in the incident.

Driver Karjalainen stated, "Tremblant is a terrific circuit. Being from Europe, this type of road course is more what I am accustomed to with my racing. It's a shame the race ended abruptly, but I know we have a strong package moving forward."

Karjalainen would like to thank all of his sponsors, including his primary sponsor GNLD group.

Next up for Jensen MotorSport are races #4 and #5of the 2008 ATLANTIC championship, at Edmnonton Alberta, where ATLANTIC races for the first time in together with the newly unified IndyCar Series.

Pictures from the event

21.5.2008 Henri did well in the race before tyre puncture - Henri's comments

The second race of the season was held in Laguna Seca in USA. From the beginning I gave some advance to other drivers because had tested two days in Laguna Seca in winter and it was first time for me on this track. However, I learned the track quite fast and every time when I went out to the track I improved my lap time by one second. In the second qualifying I stayed long time in the ninth place, but my best laps with new tires weren’t like I wanted them to be, so I finished 15^th.

In the race I had a good start. Also the changes we made to the car felt really good already in the very first laps in the race. I was in good speed compared to the other drivers in front of me and so I overtook a couple of them and was driving 10^thplace. At that time my team told me that I was driving faster than the top group in the race. Unfortunately, in the sixth corner my exit went a little bit too much over the exit curbs and the curb broke a hole to my rear tyre. I started loosing air pressure and I couldn’t keep up my speed anymore. After the tyre puncture it was difficult to handle the car, but I still managed to finish the race on 16^th position to get some points.

I was disappointed for the result, because without tyre puncture I think I would have made a good result in the race. Anyway, I was pleased about my speed in the race and it will promise good results from the next race.

I want to thank my co-operation partner GNLD, which gave me a strong support for this race.

The next race is held in Mont Tremblant in Canada at 29^th of June.

Pictures from the event

21.4.2008 Season Kicks off at Longbeach

Jensen MotorSport kicked-off the season with race #1 of the 2008 ATLANTIC championship season on the streets of Long Beach, California. Finnish driver Henri Karjalainen piloted the JMS team's #2 Swift Cosworth to a 14th place finish in his first start in the ATLANTIC championship.

Long Beach was the first experience for the talented European driver on a North American style street circuit. On Friday, Karjalainen twice found the limit of the circuit, by hitting the concrete walls in both Friday morning practice, and Friday afternoon qualifying. Friday qualifying was quite strong, with Karjalainen posting the 9th fastest lap before ending his session early due to contact, and eventually falling down the timesheets to a 13th place result.

With the Friday incidents, Karjalainen was more conservative in Saturday qualifying. His fast time was .9 seconds off pole, but only good for a 16th place starting position. Karjalainen afterwards admitted that he should have pushed harder, and earlier in the session.

During the Sunday race, Karjalainen set a strong pace including setting top 5 times in the first half of the race as he fought to pass the cars ahead. Karjalainen eventually finished in 14th position (out of the 23 race finishers).

Karjalainen would like to thank all of his sponsors, including his primary sponsor GNLD group.

Next up for Karjalainen is the race #2 of the 2008 championship, at the famous Laguna Seca road course in Monterey, California.

http://www.jensenmotorsport.com

Pictures from the event

HENRI SIGNS WITH JENSEN MOTORSPORT FOR CHAMP CAR ATLANTIC SERIES

MONTREAL, Quebec, (March 13, 2008) - Jensen MotorSport will return to action at the final Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda pre-season test on March 25th and 26th at the MSR Houston circuit. Finnish driver Henri Karjalainen will pilot the JMS team's #2 car, and Canadian driver Brett Van Blankers will pilot the JMS team's #22 car.

Henri Karjalainen has already tested the Swift 016 Atlantic car for two days with the Jensen team at Savannah, Ga. in November 2007, clocking impressive times relative to all of the other JMS drivers at this test circuit. In 2007, Henri competed in both the top F1 feeder category GP2 Series in Europe, and before this the Asian Formula 3 championship.

www.jensenmotorsport.com

Pictures from the Houston tests

24. - 26.8.2007 HENRI'S GP2 DEBUTE GOT TOO SHORT

Henri had a busy couple of days learning all the tricks before his first ever GP2 start. Finally on Saturday Henri accelerated his BCN Competition GP2 car from place 25 on the grid. Improving his lap times through the weekend Henri was chasing closely the other cars, when he went a bit too far over the edge and ended up on the grass on lap 17.

In the second race Henri was ready to show what he's made of. But the race unfortunately ended even before it had really started. Getting a good start and avoiding collision in front, Henri suddenly got a tilt from behind by Luca Filippi and ended up spinning and the engine turning off.

Anyway, Henri was glad to get GP2 experience and is looking forward to another chance to continue making the improvements he so clearly showed in his first ever GP2 weekend.

Pictures from the event

21.8.2007 HENRI GETS A CHANCE IN GP2

Asian F3 runner-up Karjalainen to replace injured Niemela in Turkey.

As rumoured, Markus Niemela will not return to the BCN Competicion line-up for this weekend's GP2 Series race in Turkey after the shoulder injury he suffered in Hungary failed torespond to treatment.

Instead, the Finn will be replaced by fellow countryman - and fellow GP2 rookie - Henri Karjalainen, who shone in this year's Asian F3 Pacific Championship before ultimately being pipped to the title by Britain's Dillon Battistini.

Niemela dislocated his shoulder in the first race of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend and sat out the sprint event. Efforts to get him fit for Turkey have not met with success and, while the FRenault graduate expects to return at Monza early next month, his absence will give the largely unheralded Karjalainen a chance to build on the results he has already achieved this season.

The Finn won five races on his way to second in the Asian F3 series, but will follow Niemela in jumping in at the deep end in GP2. The Finn has neither sat in a GP2 car or seen the Istanbul Park track, but hopes to be able to replicate Niemela's efforts in at least making the cut for the Saturday race - something that another Hungaroring debutant, Marcos Martinez, failed to do last time out.

The seat to be occupied by Karjalainen is that vacated by Spyker F1 recruit Sakon Yamamoto. Ho-Pin Tung will continue in the second car, hoping to retain the momentum of recent performances as he chases BCN's first points of the season.

www.crash.net

23.-24.6.2007 HENRI PLACED SECOND IN THE AF3 PACIFIC SERIES

Before the last race Henri was on second place in the standigs, just three points behind the leader. In the final event at Zhuhai Henri fought furiously for the championship. However, Henri ended at the tight matchup on silver place in the series after being second three times in the last races.

25.1.2007 Team Goddard dominated in Zhuhai

Team Release: Team Goddard dominated thefirst round of the AF3 Pacific Series in Zhuhai with Henri Karjalainen taking pole position in qualifiying and winning two of the three races, robbed of the final race win by some over aggressive driving. Paul Ipalso took a fifth and sixth place finish from the weekend. Read more
e

21.1.2007 HENRI WINS THE SECOND ROUND AND LEADS THE SERIES AFTER THE FIRST RACE EVENT!

Pictures from the event

Henri Karjalainen took his second win of the weekend with another lights to flag win from Oliver Turvey and Walter Grubmuller.
Dillon Battistini overtook Walter Grubmuller for third place at turn 7 on the first lap and it took Grubmuller five laps to retake the position. This was the only action in a race where everyone held their position apart from James Littlejohn who pitted with electrical problems.

Karjalainen has dominated the weekend and it is expected he will do the same in the final race of the day. Oliver Turvey and Walter Grubmuller are both determined to win therefore fireworks are expected.

A dramatic round three

Dillon Battistini led initially before Henri Karjalainen took over with Oliver Turvey following him through. Turvey and Karjalainen clashed forcing the latter out of the race whilst the former went on to take the chequered flag first from Soeprapto and Forsman. The stewards felt Turvey had been too aggressive and he was penalized 30 seconds dropping him to third.

Battistini led for three laps before Karjalainen found a way past. Turvey moved into second at the next corner when Battistini outbraked himself and went autocrossing. Once Karjainen was forced out by Turvey the race looked set to finish with Battistini second from Moreno and Forsman. However Battistini went off course again and ended the race in fourth place with Paul Ip in fifth.

articles from www.asianf3.net

20.1.2007 HENRI WINS THE FIRST FINAL in Zhuhai

Henri Karjalainen took a lights to flag win with Oliver Turvey second and Walter Grubmuller third. The Promotions class was won by James Littlejohn .

Karjalainen made a good start and was never headed whilst fellow front row starter, Walter Grubmuller, made a poor getaway and dropped to third behind a fast starting Oliver Turvey. Moreno Soeprapto spun at turn four and spent the rest of the race playing catch up.

Karjalainen controlled the pace at the front of the field, the gap back to Turvey remaining around the one second mark for the entire race. Walter Grubmuller was on a real charge after dropping back over the first few laps and set the race’s fastest lap on the final tour. Next up was Dillon Batisitni

article from www.asianf3.net

19.1.2007 HENRI WAS FASTEST in all four free practice sessions in the first Asian Formula 3 Pacific Series race event in Zhuhai, China. The margin to the second fastest driver varied from 0,7 seconds to 0,1 seconds.

Check out the official site for latest news: www.asianf3.net

15.-17.12.2006 Henri has finished 4th in the Asian Formula Renault Series! In the last race event in Zhuhai Henri finished 3rd and 6th.

10.-12.11.2006 The race event in Peking was cancelled because of safety problems.

21.-23.9.2006
Henri makes an impressive Formula 3 debut by overtaking one car after another and rising three times in five race starts from the back of the grid almost to the podium.

27.-28.5.2006 Henri gets the pole position and finishes second in Zhuhai

13.4.2006 Henri got pole position and won the second race of the season in Zhuhai, China

-Official press release-

10-12.3.2006 Henri stepped on the podium in the first race in Shanghai


Home	News	Henri	Results	Schedule	Gallery	Media	Sponsors	Guestbook	Contact us