BIO
PERSONAL DATA
BORN: | 7. DECEMBER 2000., DEBRECEN, HUNGARY |
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NATIONALITY: | HUNGARIAN |
OCCUPATION: | RACING DRIVER |
HEIGHT: | 175CM (5 FT 9 IN) |
WEIGHT: | 58 KG |
DEBUT SEASON: | 2014 |
CURRENT TEAM: | TEAM MOTOPARK |
CAR NO: | 77 |
FORMER MEMBER OF AUDI SPORT RACING ACADEMY |
CAREER
– said Burkus Egon
the advocate of Swift Cup Europe.
In her second season in Swift Cup Europe she finished 3rd in the absolute, 2nd in the junior and 1st in the women rankings. She has undergone enormous development under just 2 years. Her huge potential attracted the interest of the then founded Audi Sport Racing Academy. After a test drive in Germany, Vivien was chosen to be the part of the 3 young racers to represent the Audi factory. With this achievement, her career took a new turn.
In 2016, she switched and started racing in the championship of FIA Central European Zone Trophy with a 350-horsepower Audi TT. She did not get disturbed by the new circumstances either. Right in her first season, she won the series in the sprint (short distance) and the endurance (long distance) category as well, which meant that she became a two-times Hungarian champion at the age of only 15. In 2017, she took another step forward as she continued her career in the Audi TT Cup, where she became the youngest Hungarian racing driver to score points in an international championship.
– said Joseph (Sepp) Haider,
the head of the Audi Sport Racing Academy.
Vivien completed the 2018 season in the GT4 Audi Sport Seyffarth R8 LMS Cup, which was special for her as it was the first time she raced with a rear-wheel drive race car. She took a step forward again, as the beast with the V10, 5200cc engine and 500 horsepower was significantly stronger than the previous cars she competed with. The 17 years old girl proved once again that she could adapt to the new environment and could perform well under pressure. She delivered the results with remarkable maturity and extraordinary intelligence. At the end of the season, she won the title of the rookie category, while she also became the vice-champion of the absolute standings, which meant that she opened a new chapter in the history of Grand Touring championships.
A trophy collection enough to cover a whole car, another record and a championship title were the rewards of a tough 2018 season. Vivien Keszthelyi has achieved enormous success with hard work throughout 5 years, and looking at her career so far, even bigger achievements are on their way.
In the beginning of January BlackArts Racing, a professional team which competes in the F3 Asian Championship certified by FIA, announced Vivien Keszthelyi as their official racing driver for the Winter Series. By participating in the Eastern championship – at the age of 18 – Keszthelyi became the youngest driver in the history of Hungarian autosport, who reached the international Formula 3 category.
As the first female pilot in the history of the F3 Asian Championship she managed to score points in 5 races out of 9 in the Winter Series and finished 13th on the absolute table with 13 points.
The FIA-certified Asian Winter Series, featuring Tatuus T-318 Formula 3 cars, was the perfect opportunity for her to learn, as the European W Series – which initially had more than 100 female applicants with Keszthelyi as the only Hungarian pilot among other female racing drivers from more than 30 nations – will provide similar cars.
The selection process of the W Series consisted of three rounds. In the first one a 60-women short list was made, then in the second round only 28 could remain in contest after the 3-day test in Austria, Melk. The last selection event took place in Almeria, Spain, where the final driver line-up was decided. The 4-day test brought a thrilling announcement, where it was revealed that Vivien Keszthelyi was going to continue he illustrious career as the official, contracted test and reserve driver of the W Series.
With the support of former F1 pilot David Coulthard and one of the most successful technical designers of F1, Adrian Newey, the W Series is designed to bring the most talented female pilots to the highest-ranked category in motorsports, the Formula 1.
Vivien participated 5 out of 7 races in the W Series and after her achievements in Asia, she scored points in Europe as well. In the end of the season she became the most successful Hungarian racing driver in international Formula 3 regarding the points scored in the first season.
On the 30th of March, 2021 Team Motopark announced that they signed Vivien Keszthelyi, who will compete in the Formula 3 Euroformula Open in the 2021 season. The young driver will be the first Hungarian racing driver in the series, and she will debut with her new team at the Formula 1 Portuguese Grand Prix, the first race weekend of the highest class with F3, on the 30th of April.
Keszthelyi can now start preparing for the 2021 season as one of the few female racing drivers in the world who can earn Super Licence points by competing in the Formula category. This is a serious challenge, as not many female pilots have succeeded since the introduction of the points system, and from Hungary, no one has even come close in this category.
– said Timo Rumpfkeil,
the CEO of Team Motopark.
Speaking regarding the announcement, Rumpfkeil underlined that the pilot’s achievements so far have proven to be good measures of value for young talent. He emphasized that during her career, Keszthelyi was able to win races, achieve podium finishes and perform consistently in strong series with identical cars in the touring car category.
– said Keszthelyi
PERSONAL LIFE
In October 2017 she joined the Dare to be Different (#D2BD) programme what is inspired by Susie Wolff and intended to help young women and girls who dream their future in any field of motorsport, either as a driver, competition engineer or team leader.
From her first car racing salary she immediately started supporting charitable purposes.
Her choice were an internationally well-known and acknowledged foundation and a Hungarian-based one. Thus she is a personal sponsor of Hungarian National Committee for UNICEF and the sport ambassador of Smile Foundation (Mosoly Alapítvány).
In October 2018 she was chosen to be UNICEF’s Champion. With her own programme, she would like to draw attention to the importance of reducing infant mortality and raise funds for infant immunization.
She also loves animals, therefore she adopted a white tiger and a panda at WWF to call attention to endangered animal species.
Besides car racing, Vivien plays the piano and loves horse-back riding.