Colin Kolles (born Călin Colesnic; born 13 December 1967 in

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

) 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, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, 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 Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 200 ...

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 List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, Malaysian licence. The Caterham brand competed in the Formula One Wo ...

and had a part in the unsuccessful Forza Rossa Racing project.

Career

Kolles, who lives in

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

, is qualified as a

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...

which was the family business. In 2000 he entered racing by establishing a team now known as Vanwall Racing Team with his father Romulus in the

German Formula Three Championship The German Formula Three Championship was the national Formula Three championship of Germany, and the former West Germany, from 1950 to 2002, then as Formel 3 until 2014. In 2003, the series had merged with the French 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 and was based at Silverstone, England, but raced with an Irish licence. In early 2005, the team ...

team by its new owner,

Alex Shnaider Alexander Yevseyevich Shnaider (; ; born 3 August 1968) is a Soviet-born Canadian entrepreneur and former commodities trader. He co-founded the Midland Group with Eduard Shifrin. Early life Shnaider moved with his family to Israel when he w ...

, 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

, 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, 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. He competed in Formula One between 2005 and 2006 for the Jordan Grand Prix, Midland and Spyker MF1 teams – all different iterations of the s ...

, 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 Christijan Albers () (born 16 April 1979) is a Dutch former professional racing driver. After success in the DTM he drove in Formula One from until the 2007 British Grand Prix, shortly after which he was dropped by the Spyker F1 team. In 200 ...

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 and a former politician. 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. His last ...

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 former professional racing driver and current team manager at TOM'S in Super GT. Krumm is best-known for his successes in the All-Japan GT Championship, where he triumphed in the GT500 class in 1997 a ...

Charles Zwolsman Jr Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

, ex-single seater drivers Andrew Meyrick and

Christian Bakkerud Christian Bakkerud (3 November 1984 – 11 September 2011) was a Danish racing driver, who competed in the 2007 and 2008 GP2 Series seasons, albeit hindered by a recurrent back injury. Prior to GP2 he competed in British Formula 3 and Formula BM ...

, and sometime

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

drivers

and

Narain Karthikeyan Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (; born 14 January 1977) is an Indian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and . Early life and family background Karthikeyan was born on 14 January 1977 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to Sheela ...

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 ...

and

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

. 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 simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

Motorsport boss

Toto Wolff Torger Christian "Toto" Wolff (, born 12 January 1972) is an Austrian billionaire investor, motorsport executive and former racing driver. Since 2013, Wolff has served as team principal, CEO and co-owner of Mercedes in Formula One, winning ei ...

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 expatriate sportspeople in Germany Formula One team principals Spyker Naturalized citizens of Germany Sports car racing team owners German people of Romanian descent 21st-century German dentists Force India