Colony (auto racing team)

The team was founded in 1983 by Enzo Coloni, a race car driver from Perugia , Italy. Coloni played in the 1970s and after several years of participation in Italian Formula 3, he won the 1982 league title at the age of 36. Colony received the nickname "wolf" during his racing career, which was later reflected in the logo of his team. He also took part in two Formula 2 races, one in 1980 with the San Remo team and the other in 1982 for the Minardi team. At the end of 1982, he completed his racing career and began to manage his team, originally performing in Italian Formula 3.

Success came almost immediately. The team won the 1984 Italian Formula 3 Championship with Ivan Capelli . In 1986, Coloni Motorsport also took part in Formula 3000 , where it used the obsolete March 85B chassis and pilots Nicola Larini and Gabriele Tarquini . These efforts did not bring success, however, the team decided to go one step higher and take part in Formula 1 next year.

Coloni-Ford (1987-1989)

The announcement of the FIA ​​about the ban of turbo engines in Formula 1 since 1989, designed to make these races more affordable, was a signal for Enzo Coloney to enter Formula 1. The debut of Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems took place at the Italian Grand Prix in September 1987. The yellow painted FC 187 and equipped with the Cosworth DFZ motor was built by Roberto Ori, former Dallara apprentice. Coloni wanted to take part in Formula 1 himself, but Nikola Larini became the pilot. The car was clearly not ready, and Larini could not qualify. The Coloni team was initially registered to participate in the next Portuguese Grand Prix race in 1987 , but due to mechanical problems did not take part in it. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Larini got off the track, and this was the first season of the “Colony” ended - the team did not fly out to the rest of the race of the season. They finished the season in sixteenth and last place in the constructors' cup, becoming the only team in that season that has never finished.

In the 1988 season, the team spent the first full season and started well. Despite the fact that their car FC 188 was almost identical to its predecessor, the new pilot of the team Gabriele Tarquini regularly qualified and finished eighth at the Canadian Grand Prix . This was the best result of Coloni in Formula 1. Due to lack of funds, very few improvements were made during the season. As a result, the team was first unable to qualify, and then pre-qualification. The team finished the 15th season ahead of Osella and the new EuroBrun team and behind the Zakspeed team.

Although there were problems with money in 1989, Coloni put up two cars for Roberto Moreno and French rookie Pierre-Henri Rafanel .

The FC 188B was another update to the 1987 race car, it was hard to drive and it was 20 km / h slower than the rest of the peloton. Despite this, both riders qualified for the Monaco Grand Prix . This was Coloni's only race in the first part of the season. In Canada , Coloni introduced the new Coloni C3, which was made with the help of former AGS engineer Christian Vanderplein. The C3 had good aerodynamics, but the team was unable to achieve results due to a complete lack of tests. As a result, the team almost ceased to qualify. And passed only three times at the Canadian Grand Prix of 1989 , the British Grand Prix of 1989 and the Portuguese Grand Prix of 1989 where Moreno qualified, 26th, 23rd and 15th, respectively, after the front wing was finalized for the stage in Estoril . Unfortunately for the team, he ran into Eddie Cheever on a warm-up lap ^[1] and had to use a spare car. He could not finish due to a motor explosion. Since the results did not appear, during the season there were reductions in the team. After Vanderplein left the team in September, Enzo Coloni took over the development of the car, it is not surprising that nothing good came of it. Enrico Bertaj replaced Rafanel in the remaining races. The team finished the season in last place with Zakspeed and EuroBrun . In the Portuguese Grand Prix, the Coloni race car qualified for the last time.

Coloni-Subaru (1990)

The team signed an unexpected contract with Subaru , an automobile company owned by Fuji Heavy Industries , which provided financial support to it. The Japanese company acquired 51% of the Coloni team, paid its debts and supported it with engines. It was a flat-12 motor that was delivered by Carlo Kitty . Kiti Motori Moderni in Novara supplied V6 turbo engines to another Minardi Formula 1 team from 1985 to 1987, and in 1988 Kitty proposed a boxer 12-cylinder engine that caught the attention of Subaru. At the end of 1988, the Japanese commissioned Kitty to develop a new Formula 1 engine, which can later be used in further development of road cars and will be ready by the summer of 1989. The engine, this time with the Subaru logo, was tested on the Minardi M188 chassis, but in connection with lack of power Minardi quickly lost interest in him. After months of searching, Subaru entered into a contract with the Coloni team. For a while, the team was called Subaru Coloni Racing.

At the beginning of 1990 , the Subaru boxer engine did not produce more than 500 horsepower, so the Coloni Subaru was one of the weakest teams in 1990 (only Life was slower). Subaru and Kitty decided to build a new engine by the summer of 1990 for the new chassis, but the boxer engine didn't fit the Coloni chassis well. In early 1990, a handful of mechanics Enzo Coloney worked on installing a Subaru engine in a C3. The work was not completed until the FIA sent the equipment to Phoenix . For the first time, a car was assembled in the boxes of the Phoenix, it was run around near the supermarket. On a pre-qualification day in Phoenix, the world saw a new C3B model in the colors of the Italian flag (red, white and green). Externally, the car looked like a tank, a wide engine weighed more than 136 kilograms. Neither in Phoenix, nor at other stages did the new Coloni pilot Bertrand Gachot fail to undergo pre-qualification, that is, get into the main qualification with the participation of 30 fastest riders. Over the course of the season, improvements were weak and the results were useless. In June, Subaru left the championship and sold the team back to Enzo Coloni, free of debt, but without motors and sponsors. At the German Grand Prix, Coloni signed a contract for the supply of Cosworth engines , prepared by Langford & Peck. An improved car appeared in Germany. The Coloni C3C was minimally different from the 1989 C3. The car was faster, but not enough to show decent results. Gasho’s pre-qualifications improved, but he couldn’t get into the main qualification. At the end of the season, Colony stopped coming with his team to the Grand Prix.

Coloni-Ford (1991)

For the 1991 season, only six people remained in the team. The car was another version of the C3 from 1989, the development of which was attended by students of the University of Perugia, and it was named C4. Enzo Coloni hoped to get Andrea de Cesaris as his first pilot, with his sponsor Marlboro . As a result, the Roman switched to gain experience in the Jordan Grand Prix . Colony gave the place to Portuguese rookie Pedro Chavish , who won the British Formula 3000 in 1990. The car was outdated, fragile and difficult to drive, and Chaves did not know most of the tracks. As a result, Chaves never qualified. At the Chaves home Grand Prix, the only Coloni motor exploded before the prequalification session. As a result, he left the team. For the next race, Coloni could not find a new pilot, but for the last two races he hired Naoki Hattori , a Japanese pilot who had a good career in other formula series, but had no experience in Formula 1. The results could not be improved.

In the end, Coloni sold the property to Andrea Sassetti , who used them to build his own team, Andrea Moda Formula in 1992.

After the failure in Formula 1, Enzo Coloni continued to participate in the younger motorsport series. He transferred control of the team to his son Paolo. Under his leadership, the team continued to perform in Formula 3, in the Italian and European championships and moved to Formula 3000. Paolo personally drove the team’s cars in the Italian championship in the 1991 and 1993 seasons, and also took second place in the Formula 3 Masters in 1992. After 1996, Paolo stopped performing, but the team continued to participate until 1996, when its pilots were Esteban Touero and Dino Morelli .

In 1997 , Coloni Motorsport again tried its hand at the International Formula 3000 Championship. The most successful for the team was the 2002 season, when the team's pilots were Giorgio Pantano and Enrico Tokachello . Having gained three victories for two, the riders finished the season in good places - Pantano in the rank of vice champion, and Tokachello in ninth place. A year later, in 2003 , when Ricardo Sperafico and Zsolt Baumgatner became the team's pilots, they also achieved success - Sperafiko became vice champion, and Baumgartner made his debut in Formula 1 in the Jordan Grand Prix team at his 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix .

In 2005 , the team also took part in the races of the new GP2 series - Formula 1 support race. The season was started with Matthias Lauda and Janmaria Bruni (ex-pilot of the Formula 1 Minardi team), but then Bruni left the team, and Tony Wilander and Ferdinando Monfardini took his place.

Fisichella Motor Sport International

At the end of 2005, Formula 1 Pilot Giancarlo Fisichella joined forces with Coloni. ^[2] Previously, the Italian team Fisichella Motor Sport used the services of Coloni in the Italian Formula 3000, where in 2005 in the first year of performances she won the individual and team events with Luca Philippi .

In 2006, the team took part in the Italian Formula 3000 and GP2 series. In GP2, Giorgio Pantano finished in a good 5th place in the final standings, together with a victory in Magny-Cours and a double victory at Monza's home track, although he took part in only 8 stages out of 11. He replaced the disappointing Luca Filippi with the best result which became fifth in the sprint at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit . Philippi moved to BCN Competicion replacing Timo Glock who in turn moved to iSport International . Turk Jason Tahinchi spent a very weak season and his best result was 11th place in Monza .

In GP2 after the departure of Giorgio Pantano, who finished fifth last year, Antonio Pizzonia came, who had behind him the experience of performing in Formula 1 . Nevertheless, he was also a disappointment and was able to score only the only point in Monaco . He was replaced by Adam Carroll in the 4th stage, which was a “dark horse”, but he was able to win on the home track at Silverstone and the Hungaroring . He also earned three more podiums, and finished the season in seventh position in the individual competition. And Jason Tahinci was never able to improve his results and never once at the finish line was in the top 10.

The initial composition of the GP2 FMS pilots consisted of the Spaniards Andy Soucek and Adrian Valles , but after the stage in Barcelona but after the first stage both were replaced. Due to the legal conflict, Roldan Rodriguez replaced Soucek up to the first stage, and a little later Soucek moved to BCN Competicion and freed up a seat for Adam Carroll , who signed a contract to perform in the 2nd and 3rd stages at Istanbul Park and the Monte Carlo highway, respectively. He did not stay on the team and he was replaced by British Formula 3 champion Marco Asmer from the fourth stage in Magny-Cours . He also turned out to be a disappointment and was never able to finish in the top 10. Rodriguez was four times in points, the highest position at the finish was the second place in the last race of the season. He finished 13th in the championship with 14 points.

FMS also served the Super League Formula Series car for FC Roma , which was driven by Enrico Toccaccello .

In 2009, the team abandoned the coloring of the Indian team Force India , and it features veteran of the series Andreas Zuber and rookie Luis Razia . After the sixth stage of the season, the Coloni team completely redeemed the stake of Fisichella. The team also entered into an agreement with PartyPokerRacing.com . The deal also extends to the Formula BMW Europe team. ^[3]

Formula 1

GP2 Series

• † Racers who have performed on more than one team in a season. The final standings include results for all teams.
• LZ = position in the individual standings, KZ = position in the team standings, BC = number of fast laps.

• Coloni
• Enzo coloni
• team profile for F1 Rejects