Viola Varik

**Viola Varik** (born 20th November 2005) is an Australian-Estonian professional racing driver, competing under an Estonian licence. She is the 2024 Formula Pacific champion.

## History, early life and introduction to racing

Originating from Estonia, the Varik family has a storied history in sports, going back to Viola's great-grandfather Jaak Varik. Jaak is almost unanimously regarded as the most decorated and well-known athlete from interwar Estonia, managing to win gold medals in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics and crushing countless domestic competitions along the way. Unfortunately, Jaak's career was cut short during its prime by the outbreak of World War II, the subsequent annexation of Estonia, and, in particular, injuries received during a "gentle" interrogation by the NKVD.

During the German retreat from Estonia in 1944, a large amount of civilians decided to flee to the west to avoid a swift execution by drunk Red Army soldiers, and the Varik family understandably followed suit, successfully managing to escape to Australia via boat and settling down in the city of Cairns in Queensland. Unfortunately, the safety of Australia seemingly also grounded the family's sporting ability, with Jaak's son Andres playing Australian rules football for a couple relatively unknown teams for few years in the mid-1960s before promptly leaving sports behind altogether due to what he has described as a "skill issue" in interviews.

Another 30 or so years later, Viola's father Villem found a fair bit more success than his father (although, that honestly wouldn't be too difficult) in his attempts to emulate the legacy of the great Jaak Varik. Playing for various clubs in the NSL and its successor, the A-League, Villem proved himself as a competent midfielder throughout his tenure in football, though he was never fortunate enough to win any silverware with any club that he signed for. In a stroke of extremely bad luck ‎and major déjà vu, Villem's career was abruptly halted by a serious injury he sustained during a match in early 2007, mere minutes after coming off the bench as a substitute.

Already racing obsessed at a very young age, Viola's parents forbade her from getting a start in karting for quite some time due to them both deeming her as too young and motorsports as too dangerous. Eventually, on Viola's seventh birthday, she got to try karting for the first time, and her innate talent for it was instantly evident. Somewhat reluctantly, Viola's parents stopped obstructing her racing ambitions, and she signed up for a local karting championship at the first opportunity.

## Racing Career

#### Karting

Viola's start in karting was quite slow, despite her overflowing motivation and her dad's even more overflowing bank account. Despite results being slow to come, and the resulting slump in motivation likely affecting her performance further, she soldiered on, winning the most competitive regional karting tournament in Queensland by the time she turned 11.

She dabbled in nearby international karting championships for a couple years after finally managing to get the ball rolling, netting herself a few trophies in New Zealand and Indonesia before deciding to participate in the 2019 Pan-Oceanian Karting Championship, planning for it to be her final step before ascending to open-wheel racing. Some inconsistency at the start of the championship put her in a disadvantageous situation coming into the final round, but the perfect storm of an excellent drive on her part and a fair bit of bad luck on everyone else's part managed to lift her to the top of the title race.