Charouz Racing System (CHRS, also was known as Lotus in World Series Formula V8 3.5) is a racing team from

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, created in 1985 by .

History

In the 1980s, Charouz participated in the European Championship of Circuit Races' 1600 cc division in a

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...

. By 1992, they prepared cars for a special cup series for

Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...

s, Escort RS 2000s and Pumas. Since 1998, Charouz has competed in the

European Rally Championship The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an rallying, automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The champions ...

, Slovak Championship and European Zone series. When the

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

series debuted in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, Charouz managed the

A1 Team Czech Republic A1 Team Czech Republic is the defunct Czech team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Although no official announcement was made, the team's flag icon was removed from the A1GP website, and they do not appear in the 2008–09 season re ...

. The team later took over management duties for

A1 Team Brazil A1 Team Brazil is the Brazilian team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management The seat holder for ''A1 Team Brazil'' is the former Formula One World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Since 2005, Brazilian footballer Ronaldo has b ...

. New for 2007 was the entrance into endurance racing with the

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

. Competing with a

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola (fo ...

- Judd prototype, the team finished the year fifth in their class championship, including a second-place finish at

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. For 2008 the team entered a cooperation with

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...

Racing and

Prodrive Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races automobile, cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Team X44. Its advan ...

, running a new

Lola B08/60 The Lola B08/60 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Lola Cars International. It is the first closed-cockpit sports prototype built by Lola since the 1992 T92/10. It started competition in 2008, with Aston Martin being among the first customers fo ...

coupe in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The B07/17 from 2007 was entered at Le Mans under the Charouz banner, but the car was run by Greg Pickett's Team Cytosport with help from Sam Hignett's

Jota Sport Jota Sport is a British sports car racing team. Founded as Team Jota by Sam Hignett and John Stack, Jota Sport is part of the Jota Group which is owned by Sam Hignett and David Clark. The team is based in Tunbridge Wells in England. Jota Sport h ...

, the same organization who prepared this car for Charouz in 2007. In 2010 Charouz ran four cars in the

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 ...

series. In 2018, following the collapse of the

World Series Formula V8 3.5 The World Series Formula V8 3.5, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series from 2005 to 2015 and the Formula V8 3.5 in 2016 and 2017, was a motor racing series promoted by RPM Racing (1998–2004) and R ...

, Charouz joined the

FIA Formula 2 Championship The FIA Formula 2 Championship is a second-tier single-seater championship organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Held on racing circuits, the championship was introduced in 2017, following the rebranding of the lo ...

, fielding

Antonio Fuoco Antonio Fuoco (born 20 May 1996) is an Italian racing driver who currently serves as a development driver for the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One team and is a junior driver for the Competizione GT. He previously competed in Formula 2 for Charouz ...

and

Louis Delétraz Louis Delétraz (born 22 April 1997) is a Swiss racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series for Prema Orlen Team and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Tower Motorsport. He is the 2 ...

, and collaborated with

Ralf Schumacher Ralf Schumacher (born 30 June 1975) is a German former racing driver. He is the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, and the pair are the only siblings to each win Formula One races. Schumacher began kart ...

's US Racing outfit in the

ADAC Formula 4 ADAC Formula 4 (german: ADAC Formel 4) is a racing series regulated according to FIA Formula 4 regulations. The inaugural season was the 2015 ADAC Formula 4. It replaced the ADAC Formel Masters, held from 2008 to 2014. History Gerhard Berger and ...

championship. This saw the team claim two wins from Fuoco in Formula 2, including a double podium at the sprint race in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, to finish sixth in the constructors' standings while claiming both the ADAC Formula 4 drivers' and constructors' titles with Lirim Zendeli. In November 2018, it was announced that Charouz would serve as a junior team to the

Sauber Sauber Motorsport AG is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in . After operating it u ...

Formula One team from 2019 onwards. For 2019, the team expanded into the newly created

FIA Formula 3 Championship The FIA Formula 3 Championship is a third-tier international single-seater racing championship and organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship launched in 2019 as a feeder series for the FIA Formula 1 W ...

, while continuing its collaboration with US Racing in

. In December 2019, after a season competing as the

Sauber Junior Team The Sauber Academy – formerly known as the Sauber Junior Team – is an initiative by Sauber Motorsport to help nurture talent from karts through the feeder series ladder to promote them to their Formula One team. In November 2018, Sauber e ...

, Charouz revealed that it would revert to its former name for 2020. Louis Delétraz and Pedro Piquet were the first drivers to be announced for the squad. Both drove for the Charouz Racing System in its third consecutive season in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. For the 2021 season of the

, Charouz initially ran with a lineup consisting of German

David Beckmann David Alexander Beckmann (born 27 April 2000) is a German racing driver currently racing in the Formula 2 with Van Amersfoort Racing. Career Karting Beckmann began karting in 2008, collecting major karting wins in 2009, 2012 and 2014. He rem ...

and Brazilian

Guilherme Samaia Guilherme de Abreu Sampaio Samaia (born 2 October 1996 in São Paulo) is a retired Brazilian racing driver. He has competed in the 2021 Formula 2 Championship with Charouz, and in 2020 racing for Campos. In 2017 he won the Brazilian Formula 3 ...

, with former

Formula 3 Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

driver

Enzo Fittipaldi Enzo Fittipaldi da Cruz (born 18 July 2001) is a Brazilian-American racing driver, who is set to compete in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Carlin. After signing with Carlin, he became a member of the Red Bull Junior Team in November 2022, ...

replacing David starting at the round in Monza.

Current series results

FIA Formula 2 Championship

In detail

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

FIA Formula 3 Championship

In detail

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Former series results

Formula 3000

A1 Grand Prix

F3000 International Masters

* D.C. = Drivers' Championship position, T.C. = Teams' Championship position.

24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans Series

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

* The team competed as Gravity–Charouz Racing in 2011 and as Lotus in 2012-2015.

World Series Formula V8 3.5

*The team competed as Lotus.

Auto GP

* The team competed as Gravity–Charouz Racing.

ADAC Formula 4

* Charouz Racing System competed under the name

US Racing US Racing is an auto racing team based in Kerpen, Germany. History US Racing is the joint Formula 4 team of Ralf Schumacher and Gerhard Ungar. The championship team of the ADAC Formula 4 season 2015 has moved its seat to Kerpen at the end o ...

- CHRS.

Formula 4 UAE Championship

†Beckhäuser drove for Rasgaira Motorsports in round 5. * Charouz Racing System competed under the name

Cram Motorsport Cram Motorsport (formerly known as Cram Competition) is an auto racing team based in Italy. Cram started in 1994 out of the Tatuus Tatuus is an Italian chassis manufacturer for a series of formula racing series, being first founded in 1980. Th ...

/ Charouz Racing.

Timeline

Notes

References

External links

* {{FIA Formula 3 Championship teams Czech auto racing teams A1 Grand Prix racing teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams European Le Mans Series teams World Series Formula V8 3.5 teams ADAC GT Masters teams Auto racing teams established in 1985 1985 establishments in Czechoslovakia FIA Formula 2 Championship teams FIA Formula 3 Championship teams Auto GP teams International Formula Masters teams International Formula 3000 teams