RSS
|
|
|
Kolles qualified as a dentist, which was the family business - although "evidence" that his father was dentist to former Romanian leader Nicolae Ceauşescu is not factual - the cited article being a spoof (re: F1 Racing June 2007). In 2000 he entered racing by establishing the Kolles Racing team in the German Formula Three Championship, and later the TME Racing team in the Formula Three Euroseries. He was appointed as Managing Director of the Jordan Grand Prix team by its new owner, Alex Shnaider, on 19 January 2005. Despite receiving some criticism in 2005 for his "hard-headed" approach, Kolles kept his position 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 Force India, 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, 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 at the 2006 French Grand Prix. In November 2008, it was announced that Force India chairman Vijay Mallya was to take over the role of Team Principal for 2009, 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 has since formed his own team to compete in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 2009 Le Mans Series season, he will field a pair of ex-works Audi R10s for sportscar stalwart Michael Krumm, Charles Zwolsman, ex-single seater drivers Andrew Meyrick and Christian Bakkerud, and sometime Formula One drivers Christijan Albers and Narain Karthikeyan. Giorgio Mondini has been confirmed to participate in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans in place of Krumm, who is developing the Nissan GT-R for Nissan instead. Andre Lotterer will also race at Le Mans, instead of Meyrick. He ran a team in the 2009 DTM, with Bakkerud, Johannes Seidlitz and Tomáš Kostka driving two-year-old Audi A4s. In February 2010, Kolles was appointed team principal of the debutant Hispania Racing team as part of a deal to rescue their prospects of competing in the 2010 Formula One season. He replaced team founder Adrián Campos in the role. |
