Forza Rossa Racing

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Forza Rossa Racing ( FRR ) was a Romanian motorsport project whose first participation in the Formula 1 World Championship was scheduled for 2015 or 2016 , but which ultimately did not start racing. The project was often associated with the German-Romanian motorsport manager Colin Kolles .

History of origin

The first Romanian Formula 1 project

The former Romanian Health Minister Ionu Rote Bazac and his wife Camelia operate an automobile dealership in Bucharest under the name Forza Rossa (Italian for “Red Force”) through Forza Rossa Holding Limited, registered in Nicosia ( Cyprus ), together with a shareholder, the Italian Leo Taroni . Forza Rossa sells street sports cars from Ferrari and Lotus , among others .

At the beginning of 2014 Forza Rossa applied for a starting place in Formula 1. It was the first Formula 1 project with a Romanian background. In April of that year, the FIA confirmed receipt of the application and stated that it would first check the seriousness of the project. According to some sources, Forza Rossa received permission to compete in Formula 1 in 2015 in July 2014. Shortly before that, the US- based Haas F1 project had already received approval. However, an official statement by Forza Rossa released in late October 2014 contradicted this account. Forza Rossa, unlike Caterham F1 and Manor Grand Prix, did not appear on the provisional entry list for 2015 issued by the FIA ​​in November 2014. Forza Rossa did not compete in 2016 either.

Colin Kolles and Caterham

Driving force behind Forza Rossa: Colin Kolles

The exact background of the Forza Rossa project is unclear. In the press there were suspicions that Forza Rossa was at least temporarily closely related to the Formula 1 team Caterham . The link was the German-Romanian team boss and motorsport manager Colin Kolles , who was temporarily involved in both projects.

Kolles, who has his own motorsport racing team in Greding in Middle Franconia , had managed the Formula 1 teams Midland , Spyker and Force India from 2005 to 2009 on behalf of the respective owners and was the organizer of the HRT F1 team driving with a Spanish license in 2010 and 2011 . Several media reports expressed the expectation that Romanian-born Kolles would organize the Forza Rossa team and deploy it from Greding, similar to the case with HRT a few years earlier.

Reporting on the Forza Rossa project initially ended in July 2014. At that time, a Swiss-Arab consortium called Engavest SA took over the UK-based Formula 1 team Caterham and employed Colin Kolles as a “consultant” to the Caterham team . At the same time, Kolles' father Romulus was appointed director of the supplier company Caterham Sports Limited (CSL). While Kolles publicly stated that his involvement with Caterham had no influence on the Forza Rossa project, there was speculation in the media that the Forza Rossa investors had given up their project in favor of a continuation of the Caterham team or - alternatively - Wanted to use Caterham to pioneer Forza Rossa. Manfredi Ravetto , who served as team boss at Caterham in the Kolles era, countered this claim. Kolles' involvement with Caterham ended surprisingly in October 2014 after the supplier CSL filed for bankruptcy, Engavest withdrew and declared the takeover of the racing team as a failure and as a result the Caterham team had to cease racing.

After Caterham's bankruptcy, reporting on Forza Rossa revived. The trade press reported that Forza Rossa will take part in the Formula 1 World Championship in 2015 under the direction of Colin Kolles. According to some Romanian reports, Kolles was trying to secure a budget for a Formula 1 season.

In addition to Kolles, the former Romanian soccer player Constantin Cojocar was a link between Forza Rossa and Caterham. Cojocar, who is inexperienced in motorsport and who did not appear publicly for 24 years after his last soccer game in 1990, had since earned his living as director of a Romanian logistics and transport company called SC Transbus Codreanu SRL , and according to his own account, did not work until July 2014 had applied to Caterham as a janitor and cleaner , had been made sole director of Caterham Sports Limited a few days before the bankruptcy of Caterham Sports Limited, replacing Colin Kolles' father Romulus in this capacity. Cojocar spoke out in late October 2014 about Forza Rossa's sporting future. According to his account, the initial plan was that CSL would manufacture chassis for both Caterham and Forza Rossa.

In the official statement published at the end of October 2014, Forza Rossa contradicted the representation that there was currently an official connection between Kolles and Forza Rossa. In addition, Kolles' role at Caterham was in no way related to the Forza Rossa project.

Web links

Website of the Bucharest Ferrari dealer Forza Rossa

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The physicist and mathematician Bazac ( PSD ) was Minister of Health in the Boc I cabinet from December 22, 2008 to October 1, 2009 .
  2. ^ "Forza Rossa announces 27 orders for Ferrari cars, some 99% of total allocations for Romania". Business-Review.eu, February 21, 2011, accessed October 31, 2014 .
  3. ↑ "Interviu: Ion Bazac spune de ce importa si Lotus cum a vrut sa trimita la Ferrari piese romanesti". 0-100.ro, March 15, 2011, accessed October 31, 2014 (Romanian).
  4. ↑ a b "Forza Rossa granted an entry to race in F1 in 2015". (No longer available online.) F1today.net, October 30, 2014, archived from the original on October 30, 2014 ; accessed on October 30, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.f1today.net
  5. ^ A b "Forza Rossa set to get Formula 1 entry for 2015 season". autosport.com, June 3, 2014, accessed October 30, 2014 .
  6. ↑ a b c Roman Wittemeier: "New licenses: Forza Rossa is preparing". Motorsport-Total.com, October 31, 2014, accessed November 1, 2014 .
  7. ↑ 2015 FIA F1 World Championship - Entry List. fia.com, November 5, 2014, archived from the original on March 14, 2015 ; accessed on February 18, 2016 .
  8. ↑ a b c Petra Wiesmayer: "Forza Rossa instead of Caterham?" Speedweek.com, October 30, 2014, accessed on October 30, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Norman Fischer: "Kolles makes everything new: 'It can't go on like this'". motorsport-total.com, July 8, 2014, accessed October 30, 2014 .
  10. ↑ a b "Forza Rossa F1 Team denies Kolles-Link". racecar-engineering.com, October 30, 2014, accessed November 21, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Adam Cooper: "Ex-Caterham team boss Manfredi Ravotto accuses: Who is lying?" Speedweek.com, October 31, 2014, accessed on October 31, 2014 .
  12. ↑ Interview with Constantin Cojocar. prosport.ro, October 20, 2014, accessed October 30, 2014 (Romanian).