| Eftihios "Tio" Ellinas | |
| Nationality: |  Cyprus |
| Birth Date: | 27 January 1992 |
| Birth Place: | Larnaca, Cyprus |
| Racing Licence: | FIA Gold |
| Current Series: | Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain |
| First Year: | 2017 |
| Current Team: | Redline Racing |
| Former Teams: | JTR, Slidesports Engineering |
| Car Number: | 1 |
| Starts: | 34 |
| Wins: | 1 |
| Poles: | 2 |
| Fastest Laps: | 4 |
| Best Finish: | 1st |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Prev Series: | Formula Renault 3.5 Series GP2 Series MRF Challenge GP3 Series Formula Renault UK British Formula Ford Championship |
| Prev Series Years: | 2015 2014 2013–14 2012–13 2011 2010 |
| Titles: | Porsche Carrera Cup GB Grand Prix Shootout |
| Title Years: | 2018 2009 |
| Awards: | FF UK Rookie of the Year |
| Award Years: | 2010 |
Eftihios "Tio" Ellinas (born 27 January 1992 in Larnaca, Cyprus) is a Cypriot race car driver. Ellinas began racing go-karts at the age of seven, and from 2003 - 2009 won 10 kart racing championships in Cyprus, in 2005 winning the ROK Cup International Final. He was the winner of Grand Prix Shootout in the UK in 2009 competing against 50 other top young drivers from all over the world.
In 2010, he competed in the MSA Dunlop Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain racing with the JTR Team. He won three races and finished fourth in the championship, the highest placing for a novice driver since Jenson Button in 1998, earning him "Rookie Of The Year" honors.
In 2011, Ellinas raced in the UK Formula Renault 2.0 championship for the Atech Reid GP Team, finishing third overall. He joined Marussia Manor Racing for the 2012 GP3 Series season.
In 2013, he tested for the Marussia F1 Team.[1]
Ellinas' first taste of motorsport came when he was seven years old racing in karts. He competed in 131 races, winning 101 of them with 20 further podium finishes. His championship positions are as follows:
Ellinas took part in the inaugural Grand Prix Shootout competition in the United Kingdom in 2009. He was assessed by the world-famous driving coach Rob Wilson in September 2009 as part of the competition. He then completed a number of sessions in a Double R Racing Formula BMW car at the Pembrey Circuit in Wales. In January 2010, Ellinas was announced as the first Grand Prix Shootout winner at the Autosport International exhibition. He had taken on fifty other karters and drivers with over 100 major racing titles between them, and in the end was the runaway winner.
See also: Formula Ford. Ellinas competed in the MSA Dunlop Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain with the JTR team. He was only the second driver since the legendary Ayrton Senna to start on the front row of a British Formula Ford race in his car racing debut, and was also the fastest driver at every wet test during that first year. Ellinas's fourth position overall in the 2010 MSA British Formula Ford championship earned him Rookie Of The Year honors, and is the best result for a rookie driver since the current McLaren Formula One driver and 2009 World Drivers' Champion, Jenson Button, in 1998.
See also: Formula Renault. Ellinas competed in the Formula Renault UK championship with the Atech Reid GP team and finished third overall.
Ellinas contested the 2012 GP3 Series season debut with Marussia Manor Racing.[2] He finished the season eighth overall, recording one win and one podium finish in the season finale at Monza.
On 17 June 2013, it was announced that Ellinas would carry out a scheduled straightline aerodynamic evaluation test session with the Marussia Formula One team at Kemble airfield in Gloucestershire, England. In doing so, he became the first Cypriot to drive a Formula One car. As a reward for being the highest-placed Marussia Manor driver at the end of the 2012 GP3 Series season, Ellinas took part in the 2013 Young Driver Tests with Marussia F1.[3] [4]
| Season | Series | Team name | Races | Wins | Poles | Podiums | Points | Position | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | British Formula Ford Championship | align=left rowspan=2 | JTR | 25 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 451 | 4th |
| Formula Ford Festival | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | N/A | 3rd | |||
| 2011 | Formula Renault UK | Atech Reid GP | 20 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 475 | 3rd | |
| 2012 | GP3 Series | Marussia Manor Racing | 16 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 97 | 8th | |
| 2013 | GP3 Series | Marussia Manor Racing | 16 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 116 | 4th | |
| Formula One | Marussia F1 Team | Test driver | ||||||||
| 2013–14 | MRF Challenge Formula 2000 | MRF Racing | 13 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 182 | 2nd | |
| 2014 | align=left rowspan=2 | GP2 Series | MP Motorsport | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 22nd |
| Rapax | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 2015 | Formula Renault 3.5 Series | Strakka Racing | 17 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 135 | 4th | |
| 2017 | Porsche Carrera Cup GB | JTR | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 156 | 6th | |
| 2018 | Porsche Carrera Cup GB | Slidesports Engineering | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 117 | 1st | |
| 2019 | Porsche Supercup | Momo Megatron Lechner Racing Team | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 81 | 7th | |
| Porsche Carrera Cup GB | Redline Racing | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | NC† | ||
| 2021 | Porsche Supercup | BWT Lechner Racing | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 11th | |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | DC | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | nowrap | Marussia Manor Racing | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | MON FEA | MON SPR | VAL FEA | VAL SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | HOC FEA | HOC SPR | HUN FEA | HUN SPR | SPA FEA | SPA SPR | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | 8th | 97 | |
| 2013 | nowrap | Marussia Manor Racing | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | VAL FEA | VAL SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | NÜR FEA | NÜR SPR | HUN FEA | HUN SPR | SPA FEA | SPA SPR | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | YMC FEA | YMC SPR | 4th | 116 |
(key)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | DC | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | nowrap | MP Motorsport | BHR FEA | BHR SPR | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | MON FEA | MON SPR | RBR FEA | RBR SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | HOC FEA | HOC SPR | HUN FEA | HUN SPR | SPA FEA | SPA SPR | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | 22nd | 7 | ||||
| Rapax | SOC FEA | SOC SPR | YMC FEA | YMC SPR |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | nowrap | Momo Megatron Lechner Racing Team | CAT | MON | RBR | SIL | HOC | HUN | SPA | MNZ | MEX | MEX | 7th | 81 | |
| 2021 | nowrap | BWT Lechner Racing | MON | RBR | RBR | HUN | SPA | ZND | MNZ | MNZ | 11th | 48 |
Ellinas continues to live in Larnaca, Cyprus.