Yesterday was an historic day for Cyprus with Tio Ellinas becoming the first Cypriot to get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car yesterday Wednesday when he carried out straight-line testing with his Marussia team on the grand prix circuit at Silverstone.

GP3 Series leader Tio Ellinas, who drives for the Marussia Manor Racing GP3 squad that is part of the Marussia F1 Team’s Young Driver Programme, was at the wheel of the MR02 yesterday. This was Tio’s second outing in a Formula 1 car, the first occasion being a straight-line test at Kemble last month. It was however his first taste of the MR02 on a more typical racing circuit.

Larnaca-born Ellinas, 21, is currently leading the GP3 title race and is being widely tipped by pundits as one to watch for the future. His participation at Silverstone is a massive success for the youngster but also marks a significant milestone for motorsports in Cyprus.

The Cypriot racer is currently top of the GP3 world championship standings on 91 points after four races with another four races still left to go this season. Argentina’s Facu Regalia who races for French team ART is second on 72 points followed by third place Kevin Korjus of Estonia on 59 points.

In hot and sunny conditions, Tio had a clear run at his programme, which began with some acclimatisation runs to familiarise him with the car’s systems before building up to the deployment of KERS and the DRS, and further systems and controls tasks.

Tio Ellinas said that “Without doubt, today has been the best moment of my life. It was a fantastic experience that I know I will remember forever. I feel very proud to be representing my country and to have so much support from the people back home in Cyprus. I have driven the car once before, at the Team’s straight-line test at Kemble, but this was my first time out in a Formula 1 car at a proper circuit and so it felt like the first time all over again. There was a lot of familiarisation to do at the start of the day. I obviously have some experience of things like the very complex layout on the steering wheel; it’s still so much to take in though. I was also using KERS and DRS today for the first time and there is such a lot to think about over the course of a lap. I soon built up my confidence though and after a few single lap runs I was building up to longer runs and I was really able to start putting a lap together. I am happy with my performance today and the Team seem pleased with me. I have received some great feedback and support from them so I can’t thank them enough for that. Everything has gone according to plan so I can’t ask for any more than that right now. Now I will try to refocus on the GP3 Championship and my ambitions for that this season.”

John Booth, Team Principal said “It has definitely been a day of two halves. The whole team was pleased to see Tio in the car this morning as just reward for his very positive debut season in GP3 last year. He got off to a good start, conducting some aero measurements similar to those he ran through in Kemble and then he set about completing some timed laps. It is clearly a huge amount for the young drivers to take in, stepping up from GP3 to F1 and working with not only many more people but more complicated systems on the cars. However, Tio took all of this in his stride and achieved the objective of improving every run, running two good qualifying simulations on the soft tyres.

Tio said that car racing is in the family blood with his grandfather from his Dad’s side a Cyprus Rally winner and his Father a keen Go Kart racer in his younger days.

At Silverstone he had a lot of followers come from Cyprus including his maternal Grandfather Eftyhios Iacovou a director of Iacovou Brothers the Cypriot construction company , uncles , cousins and friends. They were all excited with his lap times.