At the beginning of February, we wrote that the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) officially banned the ByKolles team from using the Vanwall brand, as the rights to it belong to the British company Sanderson International Marketing.
But the case is not closed as lawyers representing Kolles’ company have challenged the decision, and in the meantime his team, officially named the Vanwall Racing Team, is preparing for the start of the endurance racing season. The first leg of the WEC, “1000 miles from Sebring”, will be held on March 17, but will be preceded by the so-called “prologue” on March 11-12.
Today, representatives from most of the championship teams, including Colin Kolles, took part in a video conference and shared his ambitious plans for Vanwall Racing’s debut season in the Hypercars class, the top category of the WEC.
“We want to be competitive, there’s nothing to add to that,” said Kolles. “We just don’t want to race. I think everyone is on an equal footing now, which was not the case in the LMP1 category in the past. Back then the factory teams had a huge advantage over the private teams, but now the situation has changed completely. That’s why our goal is to stay ahead of the factory teams.
Let’s see how it turns out in Sebring, it’s possible that everyone will be in for a surprise. This is a specific number and we have not tested it yet. We are confident that our car will run reliably on normal tracks, but surprises are possible in Sebring.
Like the hypercar of the American team Glickenhaus, the Vanwall Vandervell 680 does not have a hybrid system, but a conventional 4.5 liter naturally aspirated Gibson V8 engine, based on the powerplant already used in the WEC, but in the LMP2 category .
The interest in the Colles project is not only due to the long court case surrounding the Vanwall brand, but also to the composition of the team, which includes Jacques Villeneuve, former Formula 1 driver, world champion in 1997. The Canadian has experience in endurance races, in 2007 and 2008. he raced with the factory Peugeot team in the 24 hours of Le Mans.
“To be honest, it turned out to be quite by accident, it just happened,” Kolles admitted. – We have known each other for many years in Formula 1 and now we have been brought together by a mutual friend. It seems that Jacques is very eager to get back to racing and have a full season. We organized tests in Barcelona and invited him to see if he liked the car.
Since he liked it, we tried to find a way to develop it and continue the collaboration. Having a Formula 1, IndyCar and Indy 500 winner on your team is great for us, for the WEC and for everyone.
But it won’t be easy for him, there’s a lot of work to be done, because he hasn’t covered that many miles in our car so far. But in Sebring we are waiting for the prologue and we want to give him the chance to work on the track as much as possible. And then we’ll see how things unfold.”
In addition to Villeneuve, Vanwall Racing has experienced professionals such as Frenchman Tom Dillman and Argentinian Esteban Guerrieri.
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.
