Aaro Vainio

Aaro Vainio
Born	(1993-10-02) October 2, 1993 Espoo, Finland
Occupation	Racing driver (retired)
Years active	2010–2019
Known for	GP3 Series competitor, mentor to Tuukka Taponen

Aaro Vainio (born 2 October 1993) is a retired Finnish racing driver who last participated in the 2019 GT World Challenge Europe. He competed in the GP3 Series between 2011 and 2013 and currently serves as a mentor to Formula 3 competitor Tuukka Taponen.

Karting

Vainio enjoyed a distinguished karting tenure, capturing the Finnish championship title in 2007. The following year, he triumphed in both the European KF3 Championship and the Junior Monaco Kart Cup. In 2009, he finished second in the CIK-FIA Karting World Championship and claimed victory in the European KF1 Championship.

Formula Renault

In 2010, Vainio progressed to single-seater competition by joining Tech 1 Racing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. Although initially slated to drive for SG Formula, that team ceased operations before his debut. Under the management of Nicolas Todt, son of FIA president Jean Todt and manager of Formula One racer Felipe Massa, Vainio targeted a Formula One seat by 2014. He was also considered for the Ferrari Young Driver Academy but was ultimately not selected. Throughout that season, he achieved five podium finishes during the final eight races, concluding fourth overall. Additionally, he took part in one round of the 2010 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship, securing ninth place in the second race.

Returning to Formula Renault in 2012, Vainio contested three rounds of the 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series with RFR as a replacement for underperforming driver Anton Nebylitskiy. Despite a difficult beginning—qualifying last and retiring from his initial race—he managed to earn a podium spot in the final event of the season.

GP3 Series

Vainio debuted in the GP3 series in 2011 with Tech 1 Racing, earning a podium finish in his third race but only scoring points twice more, ultimately ranking 15th overall. He continued competing in GP3 during 2012 with Lotus GP, where he secured his first series victory at the Monaco event and finished fourth in the championship standings behind António Félix da Costa, teammate Daniel Abt, and champion Mitch Evans.

In 2013, Vainio joined Koiranen GP for GP3 competition, winning two races but leaving one round early and ending up ninth in the overall championship.

GT racing

Following a hiatus from racing, Vainio returned to competition in the 2017 Italian GT Championship Super GT Cup with Vincenzo Sospiri Racing, partnering with Tuomas Tujula to win their class.

In 2018, he entered the ADAC GT Masters series with Team Rosberg alongside Michele Beretta, achieving two points finishes and placing 37th overall and 17th within the Junior Cup category.

His latest racing involvement was during the 2019 GT World Challenge Europe season representing R-Motorsport with teammate Hugo de Sadeleer. The pair concluded the season 15th overall while finishing as runners-up in the Silver Cup class, securing two class victories along with five additional podiums. They also competed at the 2019 24 Hours of Spa alongside Ricky Collard and Ferdinand Habsburg but did not complete the event.

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F.L.	Podiums	Points	Position
2010	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Tech 1 Racing	16	0	2	2	5	101	4th
	Formula Renault UK		2	0	0	0	0	12	18th
2011	GP3 Series	Tech 1 Racing	16	0	0	0	1	12	15th
2012	GP3 Series	Lotus GP	16	1	2	0	4	123	4th
	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Team RFR	6	0	0	0	1	27	18th
2013	GP3 Series	Koiranen GP	14	2	1	1	3	75	9th
2017	Italian GT Championship - Super GT Cup	Vincenzo Sospiri Racing	'14'	'2'	'3'	'6'	'7'	'161'	1st
2018	2018 ADAC GT Masters	Team Rosberg	'13'	'0'	'0'	'0'	'0'	'6'	'37th'
2019	2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe	R-Motorsport	'10'	'0'	'0'	'0'	'0'	'11.5'	'15th'
	Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe - Silver Cup		'10'	'2'	'0'	'0'	'7'	'99'	2nd
	2019 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup		'1'	'0'	'0'	'0'	'0'	'0'	'NC'
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup - Silver Cup		'1'	'0'	'0'	'0'	'0'	'0'	'NC'

Full Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Results

(key) (Events highlighted in bold denote pole position; those in italics represent fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final Position	Points
2010 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Tech 1 Racing	ALC Race 1 (6th)	ALC Race 2 (Retired)	SPA Race 1 (7th)	SPA Race 2 (12th)	BRN Race 1 (5th)	BRN Race 2 (8th)	MAG Race 1 (6th)	MAG Race 2 (Retired)	HUN Race 1 (3rd)	HUN Race 2 (3rd)	HOC Race 1 (2nd)	HOC Race 2 (2nd)	SIL Race 1 (5th)	SIL Race 2 (5th)	CAT Race 1 (2nd)	CAT Race 2 (Retired)	4th	101

Complete GP3 Series Results

(key) (Races in bold signify pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16		Points
2011	Tech 1 Racing	IST Feature	IST Sprint	CAT Feature	CAT Sprint	VAL Feature	VAL Sprint	SIL Feature	SIL Sprint	NÜR Feature	NÜR Sprint	HUN Feature	HUN Sprint	SPA Feature	SPA Sprint	MNZ Feature 22†	MNZ Sprint	15th	12
2012	Lotus GP	style="background:#ffdf9f;"> CAT Feature	style="background:#dfffdf;"> CAT Sprint	style="background:#ffffbf;"> MON Feature	style="background:#dfffdf;"> MON Sprint	style="background:#dfdfdf;"> VAL Feature	style="background:#dfffdf;"> VAL Sprint	style="background:#ffdf9f;"> SIL Feature	style="background:#efcfff;"> SIL Sprint	style="background:#dfffdf;"> HOC Feature	style="background:#dfffdf;"> getHOC Sprint	style = " background : #dfffdf ; " > getHUN < br/> Feature < br/>	style = " background : #dfffdf ; " > getHUN < br/> Sprint < br/>	style = " background : #dfffdf ; " > getSPA < br/> Feature < br/>	style = " background : #cfcfff ; " > getSPA < br/> Sprint < br/>	style = " background : #cfcfff ; " > getMNZ < br/> Feature < br/>	style = " background : #cfcfff ; " > getMNZ < br/> Sprint < br/>	4th	123

Full Formula Renault 3.5 Series Results

(key) (Events highlighted in bold denote pole position) (Events in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final Position	Points Scored
2012	Team RFR	ALC 1	ALC 2	MON 1	SPA 1	SPA 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	MSC 1	MSC 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	HUN 1 Retired	HUN 2 18th	LEC 1 16th	LEC 2 6th	CAT 1 8th	CAT 2 3rd	18th	27

Full ADAC GT Masters Results

(key) (Pole positions are shown in bold) (Fastest laps appear in italics)

Year	Team	Vehicle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final Classification	Points Earned
2018	Team Rosberg	Lamborghini Huracán GT3	OSC 1 29th	OSC 2 25th	MST 1 22nd	MST 2 Did Not Start	RBR 1 30th	RBR 2 15th	NÜR 1 8th	NÜR 2 20th	ZAN 1 19th	ZAN 2 26th	SAC 1 9th	SAC 2 25th	HOC 1 25th	HOC 2 17th	37th	6

Full Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe Results

(key) (Pole positions are marked in bold) (Fastest laps are indicated by italics)

Year	Team	Vehicle	Category	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10	Overall Position	Total Points
2019	R-Motorsport	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	Silver Cup	BRH 1 Retired	BRH 2 11th	MIS 1 17th	MIS 2 7th	ZAN 1 6th	ZAN 2 8th	NÜR 1 15th	NÜR 2 14th	HUN 1 9th	HUN 2 9th	Runner-up	99