Comtec Racing is a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

team based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It competes in three championships —

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

World Series by Renault The Renault Sport Series (formerly known as World Series by Renault) is a motor racing series. The series latterly consisted of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and used to contain the Renault Sport Trophy and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. T ...

and the Auto GP World Series.

History

The team started out in Formula Ford from the ashes of the Van Diemen works team. Team Principal Piere Moncheur has guided the team since its formation. The Formula Ford UK 2003 Championship was a 3-car assault, Tom Gaymor claimed 5th place, Oliver Jarvis finished 8th and Dan Clarke finished 12th. For 2004 a 2-car assault on the Formula Renault UK Championship was launched with

Westley Barber Westley Barber (born 19 January 1982) is a British racing driver who was the 2002 British Formula Ford and 1998 French Formula Renault Campus champion. Career Barber began racing in the Formula Renault Campus series in France. He won the title ...

and Susie Stoddart (now Susie Wolf) as drivers. Westley finished runner up in the championship with Susie achieving 3 podiums and finishing 5th. Susie Wolf is now a test driver for the Williams F1 team. The team then moved up to compete in the European and French Formula Renault Championships for 2005 with Westley Barber and

Pippa Mann Pippa Mann (born 11 August 1983) is a British racing car driver, who competes in the IndyCar Series. She was born in London, United Kingdom. Career Formula Renault Mann began her career in 2003, after signing a three-race contract with Man ...

. Westley ran out of funds halfway through the year after a promising start which included a 2nd-place finish at the season opener and Pippa was very much on a learning curve with a best finish of 14th. In 2006, Comtec moved up once more and competed in the

. In there maiden year

Alx Danielsson Alexander "Alx" Danielsson (born 1 April 1981) is a Swedish racing driver and the 2006 champion of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. He currently competes in the Swedish V8 Thundercar Series and as a fill-in driver on the Monster Jam circuit. Car ...

won the championship. Halfway through the year a nightmare weekend at Spa proved the turning point for

, he wrote his car off twice but after that five podiums which included four wins in 8 races gave Alx the crown in a great comeback. Pippa Mann continued to drive in the Formula Renault Eurocup with a best finish of 15th. In 2007, the team used several drivers. Alejandro Núñez finished highest with 13th in the standings with one win. In 2008,

Marco Bonanomi Marco Bonanomi (born 12 March 1985 in Lecco) is an Italian professional racing driver. Career Formula Renault Bonanomi began his car racing career in 2001 by competing in a few rounds of the Formula Renault Eurocup and Italian Formula Renau ...

and

Pasquale Di Sabatino Pasquale Di Sabatino (born 20 January 1988, in Atri, Italy, Atri) is a professional Auto racing, racing driver from Italy. He has previously competed in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series where he was a race winner. He drove in the World Touring Car ...

joined the team. Bonanomi won two

pole positions In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

but finished 11th. Di Sabatino was replaced for the final four races by

Duncan Tappy Duncan Tappy (born 26 June 1984 in West Ewell, Surrey) is a professional racing driver from the United Kingdom. Racing career Early career Tappy began his racing career in karting, finishing runner-up in the 2004 UK Formula Ford championshi ...

. Also in 2008 The team bought out the formula ford constructor Spirit and brought in the former UK champion Westley Barber alongside Brazilian rookie Francisco Weiler. Westley had a good start to the year and the car was good but the Mygale was better and in the hands of Wayne Boyd it dominated. Westley achieved two 2nd-place finishes at Brands Hatch, a 3rd and 4th place at Knockill and two other 5th-place finishes before the curtain was pulled down on the venture half the way through the season. In 2009, still pursuing the Renault 3.5 world series

Jon Lancaster Jon Lancaster (born 10 December 1988 in Leeds) is a British auto racing driver. Career Early life and karting Lancaster was born on 10 December 1988 in Leeds, Yorkshire. He used to watch Formula One since he was three years old and always lik ...

led the team. He gained a pole position and one win after joining the championship halfway. The other seat changed between

Anton Nebylitskiy Anton Nikitovich Nebylitskiy ( rus, Анто́н Ники́тович Небыли́цкий, p=ɐnˈton nʲɪˈkʲitəvʲɪtɕ nʲɛbɨˈlʲitskʲɪj; born 11 October 1989, in Moscow) is a professional racing driver from Russia. Career Formula ...

Harald Schlegelmilch Haralds Šlēgelmilhs, known internationally as Harald Schlegelmilch (born December 6, 1987) is a Latvian racing driver. Career He started racing at the age of 8. He raced in karting championships for seven years. In 2003, Harald participated in ...

Alexandre Marsoin Alexandre Marsoin (born March 25, 1989) is a professional racing driver from France. Career Formula Renault After an early career in karting, Marsoin made his racing debut in 2005 in the Formula Renault Campus France series, finishing the yea ...

, John Martin,

Max Chilton Maximilian Alexander Chilton (born 21 April 1991) is a British racing driver who last competed for Carlin Motorsport in the IndyCar Series, before announcing his retirement from IndyCar in February 2022. Prior to IndyCar, he competed in Formula ...

and

Alberto Valerio Alberto "Betinho" Valério (Ipatinga, 6 September 1985) is a Brazilian racing driver. Career Formula Three Valerio drove in the Formula Three Sudamericana championship from 2003 to 2005, winning the title in his final year of the category. For ...

. In 2010 the team was led by

Stefano Coletti Stefano Coletti (born 6 April 1989) is a Monégasque professional racing driver who races for SMP Racing in the European Le Mans Series. His sister Alexandra Coletti is an alpine skier. He is the first Monégasque driver since Louis Chiron (1931) ...

and finished 5th.

Greg Mansell Greg Mansell (born 8 November 1987) is a British racing driver and road cyclist, currently racing in cycling's Halfords Tour Series, having previously competed in motorsports Formula Renault 3.5 Series. He is the son of 1992 Formula One world c ...

was the team's other driver. In 2011, Comtec signed rookies Daniel Mckenzie and

Daniël de Jong Daniël de Jong (born 9 July 1992) is a professional racing driver from the Netherlands. Career Formula Renault 2.0 After a lengthy karting career in his native Holland and a brief stint in the Dutch Winter Endurance Series, de Jong made his s ...

. New Zealander Chris Van Der Drift tested the car to help the two Daniels in there quest to improve. but to little effect, just 2 points in the teams championship was all they could muster. For 2012 Comtec Signed

Nick Yelloly Nicholas Jon Yelloly (born 3 December 1990 in Stafford, England) is a British professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He is also currently a test and simulator driver for the Aston Martin F1 team. Early career Karting Yel ...

and

Vittorio Ghirelli Vittorio Ghirelli (born 9 May 1994 in Fasano) is an Italian racing driver that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series for PK Carsport in the Elite 2 division and the smart EQ fortwo e-cup, where he is currently the series' defending ...

. Nick scored 2 wins for the team on his way to a creditable 5th-place finish overall in the championship. Vittorio endured a long learning curve but showed improvement with good drives ending with 5 points for the season. 2013 saw the team rebranded to

SMP Racing SMP Racing is the motor sport endurance racing team and also motorsport management created in 2013 by Boris Rotenberg, founder of the SMP Bank of Russia. Description The goal of SMP Racing is to train and unveil new talents. The team's training ...

by Comtec and the promotion of Phil Blow to team manager. Series veteran

Daniil Move Daniil Yuryevich Move ( rus, Дании́л Ю́рьевич Мове́ , p=dənʲɪˈil ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mɐˈvʲɛ, born on 11 December 1985, in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian race car driver. Daniil holds the title "master of sport on interna ...

has signed for the season and will be partnered by

Lucas Foresti Lucas Constantino Bethonico Foresti (born 12 May 1992) is a Brazilian racing driver who currently competes in Stock Car Brasil for KTF Sports. Career Karting After a previous career in junior motocross, Foresti made his karting debut at Brasíl ...

. The team has also just announced a partnership with Virtuosi Racing with an entry into

Auto GP Auto GP, sometimes referred to as the Auto GP World Series and formerly known as both Euro Formula 3000 and the Euroseries 3000, was a European formula racing series. The series' roots can be traced back to 1999 and the Italian Formula 3000 serie ...

for Venezuelan

Roberto La Rocca Roberto La Rocca (born 9 July 1988) is a Venezuelan racing driver. Career Early career Born in Caracas, La Rocca started his racing career in Skip Barber Southern Regional Series in 2008, finishing fourth. Also he spent ten races in Skip Barber ...

with a view to entering 2 cars in 2014 alongside their assault on the World Series By Renault. At the first race in Auto GP Roberto La Rocca scored a creditable 8th-place finish which meant starting from pole for the 2nd race on a reverse grid. Roberto was running 5th before being pushed off, he went on to finish a creditable 7th. Better than the two drivers in the parent team Virtuosi Racing. The team was based close to the

Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit Snetterton Circuit is a motor racing course in Norfolk, England, originally opened in 1953. Owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, it is situated on the A11 road north-east of the town of Thetford and south-west of the cit ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. After 16 years of racing Comtec Racing closed its doors for the last time in 2017. Fond memories of ups and downs have been made for mechanics, engineers, drivers and other staff for sure.

Club Racing History

Comtec has had a successful period in single seater club racing. Former team owner Jonathan Lewis won the 2003 and 2004 Monoposto 2000 series and also the 2003 Formula 4 Championship. His brother Chris Lewis won the Formula 4 Championship in 2006. John Roberts and Steve Patania also had race wins in Formula 4. The team endured a great battle and friendly rivalry with ABM Racing Adrian Kidd and Barry Pritchard. Adrian Kidd won the championship in 2004, and Barry Pritchard in 2005 The team then ran Adrian Kidd's 16-year-old son

Ben Kidd Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, ...

in the inaugural season of

SAXMAX 750 Motor Club is a motor racing club in the UK. It was founded in 1939 to promote the sporting use of the Austin 7. '750' refers to the near-750cc Austin 7 engine. It later led to racing and the 750 Formula where specials are raced. Famous membe ...

in 2006 after sadly Adrian died.

Television appearances

In June 2007, the team's WSR car was featured in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

television programme ''

Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain ''Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain'' is a 2007 BBC documentary television series presented by Andrew Marr that covers the period of British history from the end of the Second World War onwards. The series was highly praised, and resulted i ...

'';

Marr Marr (Scottish Gaelic: ''Màrr'') is one of six committee areas in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It has a population of 34,038 (2001 Census). Someone from Marr is called a ''Màrnach'' in Scottish Gaelic. Etymology The genesis of the name ''Marr ...

driving the car to illustrate the political scandal in 1997 between

Bernie Ecclestone Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is an English business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns ...

and the newly elected Labour Party. The team has also appeared in the BBC motoring programme ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'', where presenter

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme ''Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and Jame ...

drove a Comtec

and then

car before moving up to a

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

car.

Results

World Series by Renault

Pasquale di Sabatino 2008 WSBR Silverstone

Auto GP

British Formula Ford

Formula Renault UK 2.0 Winter Series

Formula Renault UK 2.0

Formula Renault Eurocup 2.0

Championnat de France Formula Renault 2.0

Formula Three

Monoposto 2000

750MC Formula 4

Saxmax

Notes: *1. - Iaconelli also entered in 4 races for

EuroInternational EuroInternational is a racing organization (which includes Italian division EuroInternational Srl and American division EuroInternational Inc.) owned by Antonio Ferrari, grandnephew of Enzo Ferrari, formerly known as Euromotorsport. History Origi ...

and 6 races for GD Racing. *2. - Míguez also scored 1 point in 11 races for

Pons Racing Pons Racing is a motorcycle and auto racing team owned by the British company Pons Racing UK Limited. The team principal is former 250 cc world champion, Sito Pons. In motorcycle road racing world championships, Pons has fielded riders suc ...

. *3. - van Lagen also entered in 2 races for

. *4. - Nebylitskiy also scored 1 point in 13 races for

SG Formula SG Formula is a French auto racing team which participated in the junior categories of open wheel racing: Formula Renault and Formula Three. The team was founded in 2004 by Frenchman Stephane Guerin. History After its foundation in 2004, SG Formu ...

. *5. - Greg Mansell also scored 3 points in 13 races for

Ultimate Motorsport Ultimate Motorsport was a British racing team who completed in the British Formula 3 Championship and the World Series by Renault Championship. The team closed near the end of the 2009 season. History The team were formed in 2007 and was heade ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Comtec Racing
British auto racing teams World Series Formula V8 3.5 teams Formula Renault Eurocup teams British Formula Three teams Auto racing teams established in 2001 2001 establishments in the United Kingdom GP3 Series teams British Formula Renault teams Auto GP teams Auto racing teams disestablished in 2017