Artyom Kozlov

**Artyom Kozlov** (born 21 May 2000) is a Russian professional racing driver currently competing in the AT&T Champ Car World Series in the #3 Verizon Team Impulse Toyota. Kozlov is best known for winning the 110th Indianapolis 500, and becoming the first non-binary driver to compete in an Indycar World Championship event, score a podium in an Indycar World Championship, and win an Indycar World Championship event, with all of these records occurring in the final two races of the 2021 AT&T Champ Car World Series season.

## IndyCar Career

### Podiums

0

Kozlov is considered by many European analysts to be one of the better drivers rising through the open wheel ladder to have never entered the international open wheel racing ladder, which includes Formula One, Formula Two, as well as the Formula Three and Formula Four World Championships. Kozlov came from the same driver development academy as Jamie Ngaire-Jardine, Hazel Lacasse, and Korina Amara.

## Early Years

Artyom was born Nadya Kozlov to parents Bogdan and Gennadiya Kozlov in the city of Nizhny Hovogrod, Russia. Artyom's parents were both mid level diplomats during the tumultuous period after the fall of the Soviet Union and as such were rewarded with well paying jobs in the private petroleum sector which allowed them to fund Artyom's racing career at a young age. From stories, Artyom was not a fan of motor racing to begin with, much prefering ice hockey, and they still played at a high level throughout their early racing career.

## Junior Categories

### European Karting Championship: 2005-2007

Artyom began racing in the 100cc class of the European Karting Championship in 2005, winning 7 of the 30 races that season on their way to 3rd in the points standings. Despite not winning the class, their poise and aggressive passing nature had caught the eye of Ipati Karting who competed in the 150cc class of the EKC as a Russian based team, and desperately wanted a talanted Russian driver to sponsor.

2006 and 2007 were spent racing in the 150cc class of the European Karting Championship for Ipati Karting. Artyom won both titles during their competition history, with a race win rate approaching 43% (25 wins in 60 races) over the 2 seasons in the top level. During this time, Artyom's aggressive, race defining pass attempts were equal parts feared and ridiculed when they didn't work, and led to claims of not being mature enough to take the next step forward in their career.

### World Karting Championship: 2008-2012

2008 was the first season that Artyom raced in the World Karting Championship, taking part in the 125cc class in order to get to grips with the stiffer competition and the more varied track selection. During the 30 race season, they took first on 5 occasions finishing 2nd in the points standings and continuing to impress during with their overtaking ability. While the success had continued for Artyom, this would be the last season that Ipati Karting would be their team as the sponsors had pulled backing from the owner of the operation, leading to Artyom becoming teamless during the 2nd half of the season, running as a privately funded entry.

The arrival of 2009 also coincided with the arrival of a new team on the World Karting Championship grid, with the Italian team Fiore Engineering setting high hopes of winning the Superkart Championship within 5 years. To that end they signed Artyom and placed them in the 150cc class. During the 2009 season, Artyom struggled with the faster karts, only managing 2 wins across the 30 round championship. 2010 and 2011 fared better, with Artyom winning the 150cc class both years, and slowly learning to tone down the aggresive moves to a more mature, mellow amount.

During 2012, Artyom and Fiore Engineering moved up to the Superkart class of the World Karting Championship and promptly won 10 of 24 races on the way to a dominant title and name recognition around the lower echelon of open wheel racing in Europe as a potential future star. This also prompted Fiore Engineering to start looking for more young drivers to bring up through the karting ladder as well as looking forward to higher levels of competition.

### Russian Formula 4 Championship: 2013-2016

For 2013 Artyom was signed by the Novatek Race Team of the Russian Formula 4 Championship with a 3 year contract set to expire at the end of 2016. Their first season was unremakrable, gathering 2 wins, 3 podiums and finishing 4th in the driver's standings while learning the more complicated open wheel cars. The 2014 season saw a massive jump in their racecraft, pace and experiance, able to consistantly run at the front of the field leading to the first championship win for Artyom in Formula 4. 2015 and 2016 continued this trend with Artyom extending their gap to competitiors year over year and leading to comments that it was "unfair and dangerous for the health and safety of the championship" that they continue in Formula 4. This led to 2016 being declared the final season for the Novatek Race Team squad competing in Formula 4 and the last season for Artyom being in a Russian domestic championship.

### European Formula 3 Championship: 2016-2020

Both Artyom and Novatek made the jump up to the European Formula 3 championship for 2016, with the team reuniting in a viral video that became a brief internet sensation before fading into obscurity. 2016 was used as a learning season for team and driver with the more complicated cars and the more well funded teams being a complete change from Russian Formula 4 where Novatek were the largest team. In the 2016 season, Artyom managed just 1 win but during the later half of the season, began to get to grips with the car landing the Top Overtake award for a 3 wide move done during the final race of the season. This early growth wasn't readily apparent near the start of the 2017 with a slow beginning for the championship chase, but by the time round 3 rolled around Artyom was up and running going on a roll of 4 race wins in a row to clinch their first Formula 3 title. 2018 was a disapointing season with Artyom not able to replicate their run through the standings of the previous season which led to a 3rd place finish in the championship standings at the end of the year. For 2019, Artyom and Novatek refocused, signing new sponsors, bringing in a health and nutrition coach for the drivers and spending extra time testing the car at the Hungaroring. This extra work paid off with Artyom running to their 2nd Formula 3 title and attracting attention from the European open wheel ladder as well as the American racing scene. 2020 was another dominant season for Artyom and both driver and team won their titles for the 2nd year in a row. The Novatek Race team released Artyom from their contract in the winter of 2020, giving opportunities for the young rising star to find larger drives. The belief was that there was interest from the international Formula 3 championship, as well as GT racing and potential Formula One seats that were open to Artyom.

### Nissan Atlantic Championship: 2021

Kozlov joined Team Impulse for the 2021 Nissan Atlantic Championship season, pairing alongside veteran Champ Car driver, B.K. Glover, who acted as their mentor for the year. The season began at Richmond International Raceway, Kozlov's first experience in an oval race, and Kozlov finished 26th and 24th in the two races held for that event. Chicagoland presented a different challenge, being a larger high speed oval compared to Richmond, but Kozlov showed massive improvement. They finished 23rd in the feature race, but climbed from 23rd to finish 10th in the Sprint race, nearly scoring their first points of the season. Kozlov's first visit to Indianapolis' oval was another learning curve, and they finished 18th and 12th in those two races.

Kozlov's first points came at the first road course event of the season at Old Spice Speedway in Cincinnati, Ohio. Kozlov qualified well, showing off some of their road course expertise, and finished 7th in the Feature race. Despite starting 4th for the Sprint race, Kozlov could only manage another 7th, taking home points for both races of the weekend. Kozlov's first career Nissan Atlantic Championship pole came for the feature race at Pocono, but Kozlov was taken out as part of a multi-car crash early on, finishing 24th in that race, and starting 24th in the Sprint race, where they put on a great display of patience to move into 8th place, the last points paying position in that race. At the halfway mark, Kozlov sat with 11 points, while their teammate, Glover, held 35 points.

## Champ Car career

### 2021

Kozlov was called on to deputize for the injured Sakura Ishibashi for the final two races of the 2021 Champ Car season, after Ishibashi was injured in a crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Kozlov made their series debut at Denver Motorsports Park, qualifying 7th for the race, and wowing pundits with resounding bravado and confidence as they battled with veterans and championship contenders, including a three wide pass on Esther Hoffson and Kunimitsu Kinoshita, with Kinoshita herself applauding Kozlov after the race for the move. Kozlov would finish the race in second place, behind only the Cherokee GP car of Siri Lundqvist.

One week later, Kozlov would perform double duty, racing in both the Atlantic Championship races, as well as the Champ Car season finale at Auto Club Speedway. Kozlov performed well in the Intel Qualifying Duels, easily making it into the race alongside their teammates, incumbent world champion, Hazel Lacasse, and their Atlantics teammate, B.K. Glover. Kozlov would lead exactly half of the race's 250 laps en route to a first career Champ Car victory, just 7 days after they debuted, making it the fastest win after debut in Indycar World Championship history.

### 2022

Kozlov was announced as making their Indianapolis 500 debut in 2022 with Striker Motorsports, set to drive the #40 with primary sponsorship from Russian nuclear company Rosatom. Kozlov would remain under Team Impulse contract, being loaned out for the event to Striker, who also would be running Alpine engines in 2022.

Kozlov would later fill in for three races for Team Impulse itself, following Sakura Ishibashi's early departure from the team. Kozlov would race the 500 mile race at Pocono, as well as the races at Watkins Glen, and Gateway. Despite being available for more races, Kozlov would be held from competing in Champ Car further in 2022 to maintain their rookie status for the 2023 season, where Kozlov will be promoted to full time competitor.

### 2023

Kozlov was confirmed as a full time Champ Car driver on 20 April 2022, after it had been confirmed that Sakura Ishibashi would be leaving the team at the end of the season. They would drive alongside Thomas Rogers, and B.K. Glover, who remained from the 2022 lineup. Kozlov started off the season strong, finishing fourth at the opening round in Melbourne, before slipping slightly to a 10th place finish the following round at Twin Ring Motegi. A first podium of the season would come on the first race back in North America, when they claimed second place in Mexico City. Following a sixth place finish at Texas, another second place result emerged at Nashville, solidifying Kozlov as a championship challenger in her first full season. A seventh at Richmond preceded a dip in form, as Kozlov would then end up outside of the top 10 for the first time all season, finishing a low 20th place at Homestead-Miami Speedway, 2 laps down to race winner Natalia Vulicevic. Those poor results would be short lived, as Kozlov would reach the summit in the 110th Indianapolis, claiming the largest race in the world in her second attempt. They led 146 laps, en route to a 17.36 second margin of victory ahead of rookie Miia Vitsut.

## Personal Life

Artyom came out as Non-Binary in a social media posting on July 30th 2021, announcing that they would be using they/them pronouns and changing their name to Artyom Kozlov. They also stated on social media that they intended to start testosterone as soon as medically possible and as soon as they are able to get a prescription from outside their home country of Russia. They have spoken at length about their nerves being a role model for LGBTQ young adults in Russia and around the world, but felt that the need for someone public to push for reform in Russia was more important than any personal discomfort.

Artyom also has stated in the past that they are not religious, citing the strict religious teachings of their childhood as reason to avoid a formalized religion.

Outside of auto racing, Artyom is a big fan of ice hockey, still holding season tickets to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, their hometown team. They play left wing in game and still compete a high level, playing in charity matches against ex-professional players.

## Active Records

Kozlov is the first active non-binary driver to compete in any of the American open wheel racing tiers, and when Kozlov starts the 2022 Microsoft IndyCar Series season, they'll be the first driver to compete in every tier of the ladder system. Kozlov holds the following records across all three of America's open wheel racing series.

* First Non-Binary driver to compete in an Indycar World Championship event.
* First Non-Binary driver to earn an Indycar World Championship podium finish.
* First Non-Binary driver to win an Indycar World Championship race.
* Fastest driver to win an Indycar World Championship race after debuting. (Kozlov won in their second career start, 7 days after their first race. Sonya Bartlett also won in her second start, but 14 days after her debut in 2001. Hazel Lacasse won in her second career start in 2020, but her win came two months after her series debut.)