About a year ago, we talked about the ByKolles team preparing the Vanwall hypercar for testing and in the future for participation in the World Endurance Championship, but at the same time they are not in order with the official documentation.
Back then it was rumored that the team of the infamous Colin Kolles did not have the right to use the Vanwall brand for appearances in international competitions, and it has now become known that the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has officially banned ByKolles from doing so. doing. So.
Participation of the team in the WEC championship in 2023 under the name Vanwall Racing is therefore questionable. The fact is that ten years ago, the British company Sanderson International Marketing bought the historic Vanwall brand, and we talked about that too.
The lawsuit between the German ByKolles/PMC and the company of the British entrepreneur Ian Sanderson over the right to use this brand dragged on for months, with the result that EUIPO experts sided with Sanderson International Marketing. The essence of the decision of the European department is that the Vanwall brand rightfully belongs to the British side, and it is she who can continue to produce racing and road cars under it.
Consequently, Kolles’ company called his Vanwall Vandervell 680 hypercar illegal, even though the car is on the WEC list under that name. There is a clause in the WEC Sports Regulations that states that a team applying to participate in the World Championship must either have the rights to the relevant brand or have agreements with the brand owners to use it. The EUIPO decision from two days ago says ByKolles has neither.
However, the representative of the German side has already stated that it will appeal against the decision of the European Bureau. The FIA has not yet commented on this situation and it is still just over a month before the World Endurance Championship kicks off: it kicks off on March 11-12 with the 1000 miles of the Sebring race.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
