Colin Kolles (born Călin Colesnic 13 December 1967 in

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

) is a Romanian-German 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 Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, Midland,

Spyker Spyker or Spijker was a Dutch carriage, automobile and aircraft manufacturer, started in 1880 by blacksmiths Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker. Originally located in Hilversum, the company relocated to Trompenburg, Amsterdam in 1898. Notable produ ...

and Force India from 2005 to 2008. He was an advisor to

Caterham F1 The Caterham F1 Team was a Malaysian, later British owned Formula One team based in the United Kingdom which raced under a Malaysian licence. The Caterham brand competed in the Formula One World Championship from to , following the acquisiti ...

and had a part in the unsuccessful

Forza Rossa Racing Ion Bazac (born 27 July 1968) is a Romanian physician and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), he was the Minister of Health in the Emil Boc cabinet between 2008 and 2009. He is married to Camelia Bazac. Biography He was b ...

project.

Career

Kolles, who lives in

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Ba ...

, is qualified as a dentist which was the family business. In 2000 he entered racing by establishing a team now known as

ByKolles Racing ByKolles Racing, formally known as Kodewa GmbH & Co. KG, is an auto racing team based in Greding, Germany. It was founded in 2000 by Romulus Kolles and his son Colin Kolles as Kolles Racing. History The company initially participated in Germa ...

with his father Romulus in the German Formula Three Championship, and later in the

Formula Three Euroseries The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

. He was appointed as Managing Director of the

Jordan Grand Prix Jordan Grand Prix was a Formula One constructor that competed from 1991 to 2005. The team was named after Irish businessman and founder Eddie Jordan. The team was based at Silverstone, UK but raced with an Irish licence. In early 2005, the t ...

team by its new owner,

Alex Shnaider Alexander Yevseyevich Shnaider (russian: Алекса́ндр Евсе́евич "А́лекс" Шнайдер; he, אלכסנדר (אלכס) שניידר; born 3 August 1968) is a Russian-born Canadian entrepreneur and former commodities tra ...

, on 19 January 2005. Despite receiving some criticism in 2005 for his "hard-headed" approach, Kolles kept his position as Managing Director of the team, presiding over the launch of the Midland M16 chassis before the 2006 season began. 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 The 2005 Turkish Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 21 August 2005 at Istanbul Park, Tuzla, Turkey. It was the fourteenth race of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship and the ...

, he was forced to perform dental surgery on his driver

Tiago Monteiro Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...

, who was suffering from toothache that was severe enough to potentially keep him out of the race. 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 Vijay Vittal Mallya (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian businessman, former politician and fugitive. He is the subject of an extradition effort by the Indian Government to return him from the UK to face charges of financial crimes in India. T ...

was to take over the role of Team Principal for , 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. Kolles returned to Kodewa in 2009 where he fielded a pair of ex-works Audi R10s for sportscar stalwart

Michael Krumm Michael Krumm (born 19 March 1970) is a German professional racing driver who won the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship driving for JR Motorsports. Biography Born in Reutlingen, Krumm married Japanese tennis player Kimiko Date on 1 December 2001 a ...

, Charles Zwolsman Jr, ex-single seater drivers Andrew Meyrick and Christian Bakkerud, and sometime

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, ...

drivers Christijan Albers and

Narain Karthikeyan Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (born 14 January 1977) is an Indian racing driver. He was the first Indian driver to compete in Formula One. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He has won multiple races in A1GP, British F ...

in 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 ...

and

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

. He oversaw Kodewa'e. He left the position in December 2011. In July 2013, it emerged that Kolles had previously tried to blackmail

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

Motorsport boss

Toto Wolff Torger Christian "Toto" Wolff (, born 12 January 1972) is an Austrian billionaire motorsport executive, investor, and former racing driver. He holds a 33% stake in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team and is Team Principal and CEO of the team. Wo ...

after he had allegedly recorded Wolff making negative remarks about the Mercedes F1 Team's management. The two settled the matter privately.

References

External links

Kolles racing team official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolles, Colin 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Timișoara German motorsport people Romanian motorsport people Romanian expatriates in Germany Formula One people Spyker Naturalized citizens of Germany Sports car racing team owners German people of Romanian descent German dentists Force India