Scuderia Coloni

Not to be confused with Scuderia Colonia.

Scuderia Coloni

Founded	1983
Folded	2015
Team principal(s)	Paolo Coloni
Former series	Formula 3000 Italian F3 Superleague Formula Formula One Euroseries 3000 Formula BMW Europe GP2 Asia Series GP2 Series Auto GP
Noted drivers	Pedro Bianchini Marco Bonanomi Gianmaria Bruni Adam Carroll Jason Tahincioğlu Alex Ciompi Luca Filippi Rodolfo González Michael Herck Fabio Onidi Giorgio Pantano Luiz Razia Giacomo Ricci Adrián Vallés

Coloni Motorsport, also known as Scuderia Coloni, was an auto racing team from Italy. Founded by former racing driver Enzo Coloni in 1983, the team participated in Formula Three between 1983 and 1986, before racing in Formula One as Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems between 1987 and 1991. They made 82 attempts to take part in a Formula One race but only qualified 14 times. Since then, under the management of Enzo Coloni's son Paolo, the team has been successful in Formula Three, Formula 3000 and GP2 Series. Between 2006 and 2009 the team ran under the name of Fisichella Motor Sport, with support from Formula One driver Giancarlo Fisichella and his manager Enrico Zanarini.

Origins of the team

Headquarters of Coloni Motorsport in Passignano sul Trasimeno (2016)

Coloni was founded in 1983 in Passignano sul Trasimeno by Enzo Coloni, a racing driver from Perugia. Nicknamed "Il lupo" (the wolf - a trait that would later be reflected in his company's logo) due to his aggressive racing style, Coloni competed in the Italian Formula 3 and European Formula Two series in the late 1970s/early 1980s. In 1982 he decided to race with his own Formula Three team.

Formula Three and Formula 3000 (1983–1986)

In its initial foray, the team was very successful, winning the Italian Formula 3 championship drivers' title for three consecutive times with Enzo Coloni (1982); Ivan Capelli (1983); and Alessandro Santin (1984). At the end of the 1982 season Coloni retired from active racing to focus on managing the team. In 1986 Nicola Larini won the Italian Formula 3 title again and raced, alongside Gabriele Tarquini, in Formula 3000 with a March 85B. Tarquini finished tenth in the championship, his best result a third place in Austria. When FIA announced that turbos would be banned from Formula One from 1989 — making the sport more affordable — Coloni saw an opportunity to enter the category and the team progressed to Formula One the next year.

Formula One (1987–1991)

Coloni-Ford (1987–1989)

Coloni made its first appearance in Formula One at the 1987 Italian Grand Prix in September 1987, where it failed to qualify. The yellow painted FC187, powered by a Novamotor-prepared Cosworth DFZ, was designed by former Dallara apprentice Roberto Ori. Coloni himself had carried out the shake-down drive and Nicola Larini was signed as the team's sole driver. The Italian recorded Coloni’s first Formula One race start at the 1987 Spanish Grand Prix, although mechanical problems meant that he did not finish. The team did not fly to the end of year overseas races that year, so Larini’s retirement from the Spanish Grand Prix that year ended their first season. They finished 16th and last in the Constructors Championship, the only team without a finish.

The primary emblem used by the team during its participation throughout Formula 1 championships.

The 1988 season was the team's first full season and started well. Although the FC188 was almost identical to its predecessor, Coloni's new driver Gabriele Tarquini qualified regularly and finished 8th at the Canadian Grand Prix. This turned out to be Coloni's best result in Formula One. Due to a shortage of funds very little development work was carried out during the year. The team’s performance suffered as a result and qualification or even prequalification were no longer certain. The team scored no points, finishing again 15th, ahead of Osella, the new EuroBrun and the suffering Zakspeed teams.

The 1989 Monaco Grand Prix was the only race in which two Colonis qualified. Raphanel leads Piquet (Lotus) through the tunnel.

The 1989 Coloni FC188B being demonstrated in 2008.

In 1989, Coloni entered two cars for Roberto Moreno and French newcomer Pierre-Henri Raphanel. The FC188Bs were another update of the 1987 car, but were hard to handle and about 20 km/h slower than the rest of the grid. Nevertheless, both drivers were able to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix. This was the only race participation of a Coloni in the first part of the season. In Canada, Coloni presented a new car (the Coloni C3) which was penned by former AGS engineer Christian Vanderpleyn. The C3 was a basically good design but the team's performance suffered from lack of testing, often struggling to find the right setup for the races. The team failed to qualify for most of the rest of the season — only in three cases, the debut of the Coloni C3, the 1989 Canadian Grand Prix, the 1989 British Grand Prix and at the Portuguese Grand Prix did Moreno qualify, in 26th, 23rd and 15th place respectively, after a developmental front wing was fitted for Estoril. Unfortunately for the team, he then collided with Eddie Cheever in the warm-up Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine and had to use the spare car. He did not finish the race as the engine blew up after a handful of laps. As results failed to arrive, the team was cut back throughout the year. After Vanderpleyn had left the team in September, Enzo Coloni took over the engineer's job himself but this brought no improvement; neither did the new driver Enrico Bertaggia who replaced Raphanel for the last races. The team finished equal 18th and last with Zakspeed. The Portuguese Grand Prix proved to be the last qualification for a Coloni car.

Coloni-Subaru (1990)

In 1990 Coloni struck a deal with Subaru, the automobile branch of Fuji Heavy Industries. The Japanese car manufacturer took over 51% of the team and supplied a brand new flat-12 engine designed by Carlo Chiti. Enzo Coloni staying on board as the man responsible for operations. By the beginning of 1990, the Subaru engine was not producing more than 500 bhp. A handful of Coloni's mechanics worked on a single C3 and tried to put the Subaru engine in it. The work was not done until the day the FIA started shipping the Formula One material to Phoenix. In the pits at Phoenix, the car was assembled for the very first time and a short shakedown took place in the parking area of an American supermarket. The car didn't have an airbox and sported wide, long sidepods. It did not follow common design practices for the time, was overweight by 300 pounds (140 kg) and proved uncompetitive. Neither at Phoenix nor at any other race did Bertrand Gachot, Coloni's new driver, manage to prequalify the car. Although lacking aerodynamic downforce or the engine power necessary to be competitive, the C3 was described by Gachot (speaking in 2021) as "the most fun" car he drove during his F1 career. ^[1] As the season went on, improvements were few and results stayed nowhere. In May, Subaru decided to remove Enzo Coloni from his sporting director role, but no improvement came, and the Japanese company decided to withdraw from the partnership, selling the team back to Enzo Coloni, debt free, but with no sponsors and no engines. By the German Grand Prix Coloni had arranged a supply of Ford-Cosworth engines, prepared by Langford & Peck. An improved car also appeared in Germany. The C3C was a 1989 C3 with minor aerodynamic changes. The car was quicker but not enough to achieve any serious results. Gachot was usually able to prequalify his car but the qualification for the race was still out of reach. At the end of the season, Coloni had not qualified for a single Grand Prix.

Coloni-Ford (1991)

For the 1991 season the team consisted of only six people, and would be the last time a Formula One team entered only one car during the entire season. The car was another version of the C3 from 1989 which had seen some detail work from students of the University of Perugia and which was now called a C4. Enzo Coloni had hoped to sign Andrea de Cesaris as his first driver, who had backing from Marlboro, but De Cesaris opted to go with Jordan Grand Prix. Coloni handed his single car to newcomer Pedro Chaves from Portugal, who had just won the British Formula 3000 series in 1990. The car was out of date, fragile and hard to handle and Chaves was not familiar with most of the tracks. As a result, Chaves never escaped prequalification, and quit the team after the Portuguese Grand Prix. For the following race, Coloni was unable to find a new driver, but for the last two races of the season, he employed Naoki Hattori, a Japanese driver with a very decent record in other formulae but with no experience in Formula One. The results did not improve and Coloni sold his team to Andrea Sassetti, who renamed it Andrea Moda Formula for 1992.

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engines	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points	WCC
1987	FC187	Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8	G		BRA	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	ESP	MEX	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Nicola Larini											DNQ		Ret
1988	FC188 FC188B	Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Gabriele Tarquini	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	8	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	13	Ret	DNQ	11	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNQ
1989	FC188B C3	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	P		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Roberto Moreno	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
				Pierre-Henri Raphanel	DNPQ	DNPQ	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
				Enrico Bertaggia											DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
1990	C3B	Subaru 1235 3.5 F12	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Bertrand Gachot	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
	C3C	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8											DNPQ	DNPQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	0	NC
1991	C4	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Pedro Chaves	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
				Naoki Hattori															DNPQ	DNPQ

Formula Three (1991–1996)

The team had another stint in Formula 3 before eventually stepping up to Formula 3000. Enzo's son, Paolo Coloni, drove for the team in the Italian Championship between 1991 and 1993. He also finished second in the 1993 Masters of Formula 3. When Paolo left the Italian series, the team continued in Italian F3 until the end of 1996, with Esteban Tuero and Dino Morelli at the wheel.

Formula 3000

Coloni Motorsport made the switch to International Formula 3000 in 1997. They made a breakthrough year in 2002, when Giorgio Pantano and Enrico Toccacelo drove for the team. Pantano finished the year as runner-up, with Toccacelo in ninth, taking three wins between them. Ricardo Sperafico and Zsolt Baumgartner drove for Coloni in 2003, with Sperafico finishing as series runner-up, while Baumgartner made his Formula One debut for Jordan Grand Prix at his home race — the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.

GP2 Series

The team continued to race in the Formula One feeder series — which was rebranded as the GP2 Series in 2005. Mathias Lauda and Gianmaria Bruni, who had raced in F1 for Minardi in 2004, started the season, although Toni Vilander and Ferdinando Monfardini raced Bruni's car following his departure from the team with three rounds left.

Fisichella Motor Sport International

At the end of 2005, Formula One driver Giancarlo Fisichella joined forces with Coloni. ^[2] Fisichella Motor Sport had a team, run by Coloni, racing in the 2005 Italian Formula 3000 season. They won that title with Luca Filippi, who moved across to GP2 with FMSI in 2006. He was joined by Turkey's Jason Tahincioglu, who brought sponsorship from Petrol Ofisi. Filippi left the team after three rounds and was replaced by former Coloni driver Giorgio Pantano, who won three races later that season.

Adam Carroll driving for FMSI in Monaco in 2008.

Former F1 driver Antônio Pizzonia joined Tahincioglu at the team for 2007, although he was dropped in favour of Adam Carroll after three rounds. Carroll went on to win two races during 2007, while Tahincioglu again struggled to score.

In 2008 the team ran in the colours of Fisichella's F1 team Force India. Roldán Rodríguez drove one car for the whole season, while driving duties in the second car were shared between Adrián Vallés, Carroll and Marko Asmer. Andy Soucek was initially signed to drive for the team, but was replaced by Rodríguez shortly before the start of the season.

Fisichella International Racing surprisingly returned to racing via the 2014 Auto GP season, having replaced the short-lived Eurotech Engineering entry midway through the season at Round 5 in Imola. ^[3] Fielding an all Italian line-up of Kevin Giovesi and Salvatore de Plano for 2014, the team managed three 2nd place finishes, all achieved by Giovesi, with de Plano's best result being 6th at the Red Bull Ring sprint race. For the 2015 season, neither Giovesi or de Plano were retained, instead, FMS brought in Italian Euroformula Open Championship driver Leonardo Pulcini for Hungary, along with Argentinian GP2 refugee Facu Regalia, who won the opening feature race, with Pulcini taking second in the sprint race, ahead of Regalia, who finished in 6th place. Only one car was run for Regalia in round 2 in Silverstone, before the 2015 season was folded due to low entry numbers, marking the end of the FMS name.

Along with the FMS entry in Auto GP, Scuderia Coloni itself also entered the series in 2015, under the Paolo Coloni Racing name. ^[4] Swiss Ex-Zele Racing driver Christof von Grünigen was signed to the team, and later joined by Italian Loris Spinelli.

Coloni buyout

Andreas Zuber and Luiz Razia joined the team for 2009. After the sixth round of the season, the Coloni team took back full control of the team after buying out Fisichella. It also had a new sponsorship deal with PartyPokerRacing.com. The deal also applies to their Formula BMW Europe team. ^[5]

At the following round of the championship, Coloni's cars were impounded as a result of an injunction obtained by Soucek as part of his dispute with the team in its FMSI guise. The team missed the qualifying session and were thus ruled out of competing in either of the weekend's races. ^[6]

Departure from GP2

At the Silverstone round of the 2012 GP2 championship, series organisers and Scuderia Coloni announced that the team would leave the series at the end of the 2012 season, and that the team would forfeit all of their points they had received to date and would receive for the remainder of the season. No further explanation was given for their abrupt departure. ^[7]

Results

GP2 Series

Year	Team name	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F.L.	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2005	Coloni Motorsport	Dallara GP2/05-Mecachrome	Mathias Lauda	23	0	0	0	3	21st	9th
			Gianmaria Bruni	17	1	0	0	35†	10th
			Toni Vilander	4	0	0	0	0	25th
			Ferdinando Monfardini	2	0	0	0	5†	17th
2006	Petrol Ofisi FMS International	Dallara GP2/05-Mecachrome	Luca Filippi	6	0	0	0	7	19th	5th
			Giorgio Pantano	15	3	0	0	44	5th
			Jason Tahinci	21	0	0	0	0	30th
2007	Petrol Ofisi FMS International	Dallara GP2/05-Mecachrome	Antônio Pizzonia	5	0	0	0	1	27th	9th
			Adam Carroll	16	2	0	1	36	7th
			Jason Tahinci	20	0	0	0	0	33rd
2008	FMS International	Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome	Roldán Rodríguez	20	0	0	0	14	13th	10th
			Adrián Vallés	2	0	0	0	0	21st
			Adam Carroll	4	0	0	0	1	25th
			Marko Asmer	13	0	0	0	0	29th
2009	PPR.com Scuderia Coloni‡	Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome	Andreas Zuber	18	0	0	0	21	13th	10th
			Luiz Razia	18	1	0	1	8	19th
2010	Scuderia Coloni	Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome	Alberto Valerio	14	0	0	0	4	22nd	10th
			Álvaro Parente	4	0	0	1	13	15th
			James Jakes	2	0	0	0	0	31st
			Vladimir Arabadzhiev	16	0	0	0	0	29th
			Brendon Hartley	4	0	0	0	1	27th
2011	Scuderia Coloni	Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome	Michael Herck	18	0	0	0	1	21st	7th
			Davide Rigon	2	0	0	0	0	29th
			Kevin Ceccon	8	0	0	0	0	30th
			Luca Filippi	8	3	0	5	54†	2nd
2012	Scuderia Coloni	Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome	Stefano Coletti	20	0	0	1	28	13th†	EX
			Luca Filippi	4	1	1	0	29	15th
			Fabio Onidi	24	0	0	0	13	20th

† Includes points scored for other teams.
‡ Started the season as Fisichella Motor Sport

In detail

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis Engine Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	T.C.	Points
2005	GP2/05 Renault B		SMR FEA	SMR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	BHR FEA	BHR SPR		8th	36
		Mathias Lauda	12	Ret	Ret	13	6	10	Ret	16	15	20	15	14	21	Ret	14	16	18	13	12	9	24†	14	21
		Gianmaria Bruni	4	4	1	Ret	2	8	Ret	18	11	7	11	NC	14	10	8	Ret	9
		Toni Vilander																		15	8	14	13
		Ferdinando Monfardini																						Ret	11
2006	GP2/05 Renault B		VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SMR FEA	SMR SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR				5th	46
		Luca Filippi	Ret	Ret	11	5	Ret	Ret
		Giorgio Pantano							9	7	Ret	5	4	6	1	4	5	3	13	Ret	Ret	1	1
		Jason Tahinci	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNS	18	15	19	Ret	13	16	Ret	17	17	17	Ret	14	17	17	11	13
2007	GP2/05 Renault B		BHR FEA	BHR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR				9th	37
		Antônio Pizzonia	16	Ret	Ret	8	8
		Adam Carroll						DSQ	14	6	1	Ret	14	1	2	3	3	Ret	15	Ret	6	Ret	15
		Jason Tahinci	Ret	13	DNS	Ret	Ret	15	18	19	16	17†	19	Ret	11	14	Ret	11	20	14	20	13	Ret
2008	GP2/08 Renault B		CAT FEA	CAT SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MON FEA	MON FEA	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR					10th	15
		Roldán Rodríguez	Ret	Ret	12	13	6	4	Ret	16	11	Ret	18	15	19	Ret	Ret	10	21†	Ret	6	2
		Adrián Vallés	18	11
		Adam Carroll			8	Ret	Ret	Ret
		Marko Asmer							17	11	20	13	14	12	18	Ret	DNS	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	Ret
2009	GP2/08 Renault B		CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON FEA	IST FEA	IST SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	ALG FEA	ALG SPR					10th	29
		Andreas Zuber	Ret	Ret	3	5	9	19	8	2	3	Ret	Ret	17	16	Ret			12	Ret	8	12
		Luiz Razia	16	12	13	10	Ret	20	20†	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	13			8	1	10	17
2010	GP2/08 Renault B		CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	YMC FEA	YMC SPR					10th	18
		Alberto Valerio	14	Ret	5	Ret	17†	19	9	Ret	14	22	11	12	Ret	12
		Alvaro Parente															2	3	12	9
		James Jakes																			15	18
		Vladimir Arabadzhiev	19	20	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	13†	9	21	17	15	15	18	14	19	Ret
		Brendon Hartley																	Ret	Ret	9	6
2011	GP2/11 Mecachrome P		IST FEA	IST SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR							7th	46
		Michael Herck	14	12	Ret	Ret	13	15	10	6	24	18	11	10	12	Ret	16	15	Ret	DNS
		Davide Rigon	10	Ret
		Kevin Ceccon			19	15	11	12	18	20†	19	Ret
		Luca Filippi											1	3	6	Ret	4	1	1	5
2012	GP2/11 Mecachrome P		SEP FEA	SEP SPR	BHR1 FEA	BHR1 SPR	BHR2 FEA	BHR2 SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	MRN FEA	MRN SPR	EX	0
		Stefano Coletti	5	23†	Ret	23†	21	18	3	8	10	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	20	19	10	9	20†	8
		Luca Filippi																					1	22	Ret	DNS
		Fabio Onidi	20	13	8	14	20	9	6	18	Ret	Ret	13	17	22	8	19	22	11	24	16	12	21	Ret	Ret	20

Superleague Formula

Year	Car	Teams	Races	Wins	Poles	Fast laps	Points	T.C.
2008	Panoz DP09-Menard	A.S. Roma	12	0	1	0	307	5th

References

1. , Beyond the Grid Podcast "Bertrand Gachot on the prison sentence that handed Michael Schumacher his F1 debut", 25 August 2021.
2. "Confirmed: Fisichella to partner Coloni in GP2". crash.net. 12 December 2005. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
3. "AUTO GP - News - Auto GP returns to Imola this week-end".
4. "AUTO GP - News - Pizzonia (Zele Racing), von Grünigen (Paolo Coloni Racing) join 2015 Auto GP ranks". Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
5. Glendenning, Mark (21 August 2009). "Coloni takes full control of FMS team". autosport.com. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
6. Glendenning, Mark (28 August 2009). "Legal row forces Coloni to miss Spa". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications . Retrieved 29 August 2009.
7. Elizalde, Pablo (6 July 2012). "Coloni to leave GP2 at end of 2012". Autosport . Haymarket Publications . Retrieved 6 July 2012.

External links

• Official website
• Fisichella Motor Sport