Colin Kolles
| Colin Kolles | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 13 December 1967 Timişoara, Romania |
| Nationality | German |
Colin Kolles (born Călin Colesnic[1] 13 December 1967 in Timişoara, Romania[2]) is the former team principal and managing director of the Hispania Racing F1 Team, previously holding a similar position at the team known under the names Jordan, Midland, Spyker and Force India from 2005 to 2008. He is from Ingolstadt, Germany, and his nationality is German.[2]
Kolles qualified as a dentist, which was the family business - although "evidence" that his father was dentist to former Romanian leader Nicolae Ceauşescu[3] is not factual - the cited article being a spoof (re: F1 Racing June 2007). In 2000 he entered racing by establishing the Kolles Racing team in the German Formula Three Championship, and later the TME Racing team in the Formula Three Euroseries. He was appointed as Managing Director of the Jordan Grand Prix team by its new owner, Alex Shnaider, on 19 January 2005.[4]
Despite receiving some criticism in 2005 for his "hard-headed" approach, Kolles kept his position Managing Director of the team, presiding over the launch of the Midland M16 chassis before the 2006 season began.[5] Following the team's takeover by Spyker and then Force India, he remained as managing director.
Despite running a Formula One team, Kolles has still been called upon to use his dentistry skills. Before the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix, he was forced to perform dental surgery on his driver Tiago Monteiro, who was suffering from toothache that was severe enough to potentially keep him out of the race.[6] He also performed a similar procedure on Midland's other driver Christijan Albers at the 2006 French Grand Prix.
In November 2008, it was announced that Force India chairman Vijay Mallya was to take over the role of Team Principal for 2009, leaving Kolles without a major role in the team. He remained contracted to the team until 31 October 2009, when he resigned as a director.[7]
Kolles has since formed his own team to compete in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 2009 Le Mans Series season, he will field a pair of ex-works Audi R10s for sportscar stalwart Michael Krumm, Charles Zwolsman, ex-single seater drivers Andrew Meyrick and Christian Bakkerud, and sometime Formula One drivers Christijan Albers and Narain Karthikeyan. Giorgio Mondini has been confirmed to participate in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans in place of Krumm, who is developing the Nissan GT-R for Nissan instead. Andre Lotterer will also race at Le Mans, instead of Meyrick. He ran a team in the 2009 DTM, with Bakkerud, Johannes Seidlitz and Tomáš Kostka driving two-year-old Audi A4s.
In February 2010, Kolles was appointed team principal of the debutant Hispania Racing team as part of a deal to rescue their prospects of competing in the 2010 Formula One season. He replaced team founder Adrián Campos in the role.[8] He left the position in December 2011.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.dentistry.co.uk/news/31-German-dentist-takes-on-Jordan-F1-racing-team
- ^ a b "Jose Ramon Carabante takes over the Campos F1 team". motorsport.com (Motorsport.com, Inc). 2010-02-19. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=358090&FS=F1. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
- ^ "The Mole:270". http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?Type=The_Mole&PO_ID=32052.
- ^ "Midland Group website". http://www.midland.gg/index.php?page=default/news&news=22.
- ^ "MF1 team boss Colin Kolles on 2006 and the new M16...".
- ^ "Jordan overcome teething troubles". http://212.58.226.40/sport1/hi/funny_old_game/4170862.stm.
- ^ "Kolles leaves Force India". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 2009-11-03. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80000. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
- ^ Elizalde, Pablo (2010-02-19). "Carabante takes over Campos team". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81606. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
- ^ "HRT F1 Team and Dr. Colin Kolles part ways for 2012". HRT Formula One team website. HRT F1 Team. http://www.hispaniaracing.com/news.php?nid=609. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
