ByKolles Racing, formerly known as Kodewa, is an Austrian-German auto racing team based in Greding, Germany. The team most recently fielded the No. 4 Vanwall Vandervell 680 in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2023. It was founded in 2000 by Romulus Kolles and his son Colin Kolles as Kolles Racing, but has undergone several rebrands over the years. These include a sponsorship deal with Lotus Cars from 2012 to 2014, a failed takeover of Tyrrell's naming rights,[1] and a subsequent switch to Vanwall that went to court in 2023.[2]
The company initially participated in German Formula 3 before moving to the F3 Euro Series from 2003 to 2005. Colin Kolles left the team to become director of the Jordan Grand Prix Formula One team at the start of the 2005 season, a position he held until 2009. With his son away, Romulus moved the team to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series with Audi under the sponsorship title Futurecom TME. The Kolles team shifted their interest to sports car racing by participating in the Le Mans Series and later the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, again with customer Audi prototypes. Kolles returned to Formula One to helm the HRT F1 team in 2010, with Kodewa's workshop in Greding serving as a base of operations for the new team before HRT's new owners chose to release Kolles from the team and move their operations to Spain in 2012.
Kodewa participated in the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship with the backing of Lotus Cars under the title Lotus LMP2. In 2014 they lost their Lotus backing and rebranded as ByKolles Racing with a new LMP1 prototype, the CLM P1/01.[3]
In 2017 Robert Kubica was set to return to active racing again in the ByKolles car for the WEC season.[4] In April 2018 he withdrew from the team before the first race of the 2018-2019 season.[5]
Former Caterham F1 boss Manfredi Ravetto joined the ByKolles team in 2018.[6]
In 2019 Kolles announced his team would not compete in the full 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance championship, but would still compete in the 2019 24 hours of Le Mans. This was announced to allow the team to contest in the then forthcoming Le Mans Hypercar class.[7]
On March 25, 2022, Kolles announced his intention to enter the car in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, stating that "If we receive a welcome, we will be ready to race."[8] On 2 April 2022 the team revealed the new Vanwall Le Mans Hypercar following a photoshoot held at a German airport some days earlier with Christophe Bouchut driving the car.[9] The team officially rebranded to become the Vanwall Racing Team with the chassis named after 1950s Vanwall team owner Tony Vandervell.
On 11 January 2023, the entry was accepted by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and the team would enter the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship in the Hypercar class with the Vanwall Vandervell 680, built to LMH specifications. The team's lineup would consist of Tom Dillmann, Jacques Villeneuve and Esteban Guerrieri, with the car being sponsored by German travel bag and luggage company Floyd GmbH.[10] [11]
The Vanwall name was registered as a marque by Kolles' agents PMC, in Germany, before the launch of the car.[12] However, the use of the Vanwall marque is in question after ByKolles lost a EUIPO case brought by the continuity project Vanwall 1958 based in the UK, who also plan to build cars for competition using the Vanwall marque and history.[13]
After a string of uncompetitive results and retirements, Villeneuve was dropped by the team for the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans and replaced with Tristan Vautier. Villeneuve subsequently withdrew from the remainder of the season, releasing a statement questioning the team's actions and expressing his disappointment at the situation.[14] Dillmann would leave the team following the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, stating that his leave was on "good terms"; he was replaced by João Paulo de Oliveira for future rounds.[15] Ryan Briscoe would end up replacing de Oliveira for the final round of the season.[16] In November 2023 the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship entry list was announced and did not include the team.[17] It was later revealed that Kolles had struck an engine deal with Pipo Moteurs, who had previously powered Glickenhaus, before the entry request was declined.[18]
| Year | Teamname | Car | Engine | Driver | Races | Points | Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | AIL Team Kolles Racing | Dallara F300 | Mugen-Honda |  Elran Nijenhuis | 14 | 18 | 18th |
 Andreas Feichtner | 4 | 4 | 24th | ||||
 Peter Sundberg | 10 | 4 | 25th | ||||
 Marc Hynes | 2 | 0 | NC | ||||
| 2001 | Team Kolles Racing | Dallara F300 | Mugen-Honda | Pierre Kaffer | 20 | 156 | 4th |
 Kimmo Liimatainen | 20 | 25 | 16th | ||||
| 2002 | Team Kolles Racing | Dallara F302 | Mugen-Honda |  João Paulo de Oliveira | 14 | 16 | 12th |
| Charles Zwolsman Jr. | 10 | 8 | 15th | ||||
| Ross Zwolsman | 10 | 0 | 21st | ||||
 Sakon Yamamoto | 6 | 0 | 22nd | ||||
| Dallara F399 |  Stefano Proetto | 14 | 0 | 30th |
| Year | Teamname | Car | Engine | Driver | Races | Points | Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Kolles | Dallara F303 | Mercedes | Charles Zwolsman Jr. | 20 | 7 | 19th |
| Dallara F302 | Jamie Green | 6 | 6 | 20th | |||
 Jan Heylen | 14 | 0 | 28th | ||||
| 2004 | Team Kolles | Dallara F303 | Mercedes | Adrian Sutil | 18 | 9 | 17th |
| Maximilian Götz | 2 | 3 | 19th | ||||
| Dallara F302 | Tom Kimber-Smith | 20 | 2 | 20th | |||
| 2009 | Kolles & Heinz Union | Dallara F309 | Volkswagen |  Robert Wickens | 4 | 0 | 22nd |
 Johan Jokinen | 18 | 0 | 24th | ||||
| Nick Tandy | 16 | 0 | 28th | ||||
| Carlo van Dam | 4 | 0 | 31st | ||||
| Edoardo Mortara | 2 | 0 | NC |
| Year | Teamname | Car | Driver | Races | Points | Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Futurecom TME | Audi A4 DTM 2004 | Vanina Ickx | 10 | 0 | 19th |
| Jeroen Bleekemolen | 2 | 0 | 20th | |||
| Olivier Tielemans | 3 | 0 | 21st | |||
| Thed Björk | 2 | 0 | 22nd | |||
| Nicolas Kiesa | 3 | 0 | 23rd | |||
| 2007 | Futurecom TME | Audi A4 DTM 2005 | Adam Carroll | 5 | 0 | 18th |
| Markus Winkelhock | 5 | 0 | 19th | |||
| Vanina Ickx | 10 | 0 | 21st | |||
| 2008 | Futurecom TME | Audi A4 DTM 2006 | Christijan Albers | 11 | 0 | 19th |
| Katherine Legge | 11 | 0 | 21st | |||
| 2009 | Kolles Futurecom | Audi A4 DTM 2007 |  Tomáš Kostka | 10 | 0 | 17th |
| Christian Bakkerud | 9 | 0 | 19th | |||
| Johannes Seidlitz | 8 | 0 | 20th |
| Year | Teamname | Car | Engine | Driver | Races | Points | Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Kolles | Audi R10 TDI | Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel) | Charles Zwolsman Jr. | 5 | 12 | 7th |
| Andrew Meyrick | 5 | ||||||
 Narain Karthikeyan | 4 | ||||||
| Michael Krumm | 1 | ||||||
| Christijan Albers | 5 | 6 | 10th | ||||
| Christian Bakkerud | 5 | ||||||
 Giorgio Mondini | 3 |
The series in which the team competed are listed:
| Current series | ||
|---|---|---|
| FIA World Endurance Championship | 2012–2020, 2023 | |
| Former series | ||
| German Formula Three Championship | 2000–2002 | |
| Formula 3 Euro Series | 2003–2004, 2009 | |
| Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters | 2006–2009 | |
| Le Mans Series | 2009 | |
Kevin Weeda
Lotus
Team ByKolles
