CRS Racing is a British

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

team founded by British driver Andrew Kirkaldy and Canadian-Greek driver and entrepreneur Chris Niarchos. The team was founded in 2007, but is based on the former team of Kirkaldy known as Team AKA which competed in the

British Formula Renault Championship British Formula Renault Championship referred to one of two Formula Renault championships that were held in the United Kingdom. The main series was Renault Sport, Renault Sport UK's Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship which ...

starting in 2004. Niarchos, founder of the Cobra Group, sponsored and then partnered with Kirkaldy's team before it was reformed in 2007 in order to expand beyond Formula Renault to enter the European

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

and

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports G ...

. In 2010 CRS Racing partnered with

McLaren Automotive McLaren Automotive ( ; formerly known as McLaren Cars) is a British luxury Automotive industry, automotive Manufacturing, manufacturer based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England. The main products of the company are sports cars, ...

to develop their sports car program, eventually rebranding as McLaren GT to build and maintain their customer cars. CRS Racing concentrated solely on McLaren GT after 2012.

History

Andrew Kirkaldy's Team AKA debuted in the British Formula Renault championship in 2004, led by driver

James Jakes James Jakes (born 4 August 1987 in Leeds, West Yorkshire) is a British professional racing driver. Career T-Cars Jakes started his racing career in 2002 competing in 5 rounds of the T-Car Championship. In 2003 James continued in T-cars, ...

, who went on to earn tenth in the Drivers Championship before leading the team to third in the series in 2005. It was however Swedish driver Alexander Storckenfeldt who earned Team AKA their first Formula Renault victory at the

Thruxton Circuit The Thruxton Circuit is a motor-racing circuit located near the village of Thruxton, Hampshire, Thruxton in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom, about north of Southampton. It has hosted motorsport events including the British Touring Car Ch ...

. Team AKA also entered Jakes in the

Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault S ...

. Jakes' third place in the British championship earned him a nomination for the

McLaren Autosport BRDC Award The Silverstone Autosport BRDC Award is an award set up in 1989, following the demise of the Grovewood Awards, to reward and recognise young racing drivers from the UK. As its names suggest, the award is backed by Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, ...

. As Jakes and Storckenfeldt moved to other series, AKA hired

Jeremy Metcalfe Jeremy Metcalfe (born 9 April 1988 in Fleet, Hampshire) is a British motor racing driver who last competed in 2008 in the British GT Championship where he finished the season as Vice-Champion along with team-mate Luke Hines. Racing in the Form ...

, Peter Rees, and Irishman Patrick Hogan. Hogan led the team with six wins and tied

Sebastian Hohenthal Mica Sebastian Bogislaus Hohenthal (born 5 November 1984 in Mora) is a former racing driver from Sweden. Career Karting Hohenthal competed in kart racing from 1995 to 2000. During this period he won the Dalacupen Formula Micro in 1996, the Tom T ...

on points but earned second in the championship by the

tiebreaker In games and sport, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is any method used to determine a winner or to rank participants when there is a tie - meaning two or more parties have achieved a same score or result. A tiebreaker provides the additional criterion ...

. AKA also earned second place in the Teams Championship behind

Fortec Motorsport Fortec Motorsport Ltd. is a motor-racing team that races in the GB3 Championship, GB4 Championship, and F4 British Championship. The team was bought in 1995 by current owner Richard Dutton. Past drivers for the team include Juan Pablo Montoya, ...

In 2007 Chris Niarchos approached Kirkaldy with sponsoring of Team AKA in their fourth season of the British Formula Renault Championship. Niarchos and Kirkaldy had previously been teammates on the

Scuderia Ecosse Scuderia means ''stable'' (noun) in the Italian language. It has entered English usage mainly through professional auto racing, in which many Italian teams incorporate the term in their names. "Scuderia" may refer to: * Scuderia Ferrari, a curren ...

team which competed in the

. Team AKA then became known as AKA Cobra and hired

Adam Christodoulou Adam Robert Christodoulou (born 11 June 1989) is a British and Greek racing driver, who won the 2008 British Formula Renault Championship and also won the 2009 Star Mazda Championship in the United States. His cousin Riki Christodoulou is al ...

, Chris Holmes, and Australian

Nathan Caratti Nathan or Natan may refer to: People and biblical figures *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible *Nathan (son of David), a biblical figur ...

to drive alongside the returning Metcalfe. Christodoulou finished fourth in the championship while Metcalfe earned two wins over the season. AKA Cobra once again completed the season second in the Teams Championship, trailing Fortec. Following the 2007 season, Niarchos' interest in the team expanded as the two wished to enter their own team in not only the FIA GT Championship but the

as well, ending their relationship with Scuderia Ecosse. The team was renamed once more and was relaunched as CR Scuderia, reflecting their choice of Italian

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

s for their entry into

grand tourer A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving with performance and luxury. The most common format is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with ...

racing. CR Scuderia employed defending multiple drivers to cover their two new series as well as their continuing efforts in Formula Renault. Defending

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 ...

champion Rob Bell co-drove with Kirkaldy in the FIA GT Championship while Niarchos led the team's other car.

Luke Hines Luke Hines (born 4 May 1982 in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire) is a British racing driver. He is the son of former karting champion and Zip Kart founder/owner Martin Hines. Career After a small amount of open wheel racing in Formula Ford, Hines te ...

, Jeremy Metcalfe, James Sutton, Michael Meadows, Michael Cullen, Paddy Shovlin were the full-season entrants in the trio of Ferraris for British GT. Christodoulou returned for another season of Formula Renault and was joined by Scott Jenkins,

Sten Pentus Sten Pentus (born 3 November 1981 in Tallinn) is an Estonian racing driver. He is a former Estonian Formula 4 Champion, and a previous winner of the Formula Baltic championship in a Reynard 903. At the end of the 2008 season, Pentus tested for ...

, and Ryuji Yamamoto. The 2008 season was successful for the reformed team as they managed victories in each of their three series. Kirkaldy and Bell won both races at the Bucharest City Challenge and placed 6th in the FIA GT Championship, while all three Ferraris won races over the course of the British GT season, led by Hines and Metcalfe in second in the Drivers Championship, but also earning the team first in the Teams Championship. A second championship was earned by the team in British Formula Renault as Christodoulou won the Drivers Championship after seven victories over the season.

Current activities

Prior to the start of the 2009 season, CR Scuderia was renamed CRS Racing, but much of the team remains the same from their previous year. Kirkaldy and Bell continue in the FIA GT Championship, while Niarchos is joined full-time by

Tim Mullen Tim Mullen (born 28 March 1976 in Portadown, Northern Ireland) is a British auto racing, racing driver. After starting his career in Karting, he entered the Irish Formula Ford championship in 1995 where he won the title. Moving to the British ...

in the team's second Ferrari. Formula Renault entries continue for the team, but the drivers are entirely new as

Harry Tincknell Harry William Tincknell (born 29 October 1991 in Exeter, Devon) is a British professional racing driver currently racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Aston Martin THOR Team. He won the LMP2 class on his Le Mans 24 Hour race debu ...

Matias Laine Matias Laine (born 25 April 1990 in Joensuu) is a Finland, Finnish former racing driver. Career Karting Laine began his motorsport career in karting in 2003, finishing as runner-up in the Finnish Raket Cup Championship. In 2005 he won the Finn ...

, Joshua Scott, and

Lewis Williamson Lewis Williamson (born 11 November 1989) is a British racing driver. Career Karting Born in Dundee, Williamson began karting at the age of eight, and spent a successful decade racing in the various classes around the United Kingdom. By the ti ...

compete for the title. Although they are the defending Team Champions in British GT, CRS Racing chose to move their other Ferraris to the

FIA GT3 European Championship The FIA GT3 European Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a championship derived from the international FIA ...

for this season where Chris Goodwin, Klaas Hummell,

Phil Quaife Phil Quaife (born 27 March 1986) is a British racing driver. Career Quaife enjoyed a successful start to his racing career. After winning his first major karting title in the Junior Rotax Max winter championship before finishing as runner-u ...

, and Robert Hissom will compete. CRS are also currently busy helping with the development of the GT3 racing variant of the

McLaren MP4-12C The McLaren MP4-12C, later rebranded as the McLaren 12C, is a sports car produced by the British carmaker McLaren Automotive. Manufactured between 2011 and 2014 and designed by Frank Stephenson, the MP4-12C was available as both a coupe and a ...

. The car made its competitive debut at a

round at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

in July 2011, running as an invitational entrant with Chris Goodwin and Andrew Kirkaldy achieving a pole position and a best result of fourth place from the two races to be held. Three MP4-12C cars contested the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by CrowdStrike. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and ...

in July, with only one reaching the event's end.

Results

GP3

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

References

External links

*
AKA Cobra
{{DEFAULTSORT:CRS Racing British auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 2004 2004 establishments in the United Kingdom British Formula Renault teams FIA GT Championship teams GP3 Series teams International GT Open teams GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup teams British GT Championship teams European Le Mans Series teams British racecar constructors 24 Hours of Le Mans teams Auto racing teams established in 2007