Jump to content

Carlin Motorsport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United Kingdom Carlin
Founded1996
Founder(s)Trevor Carlin
Martin Stone
Folded2023
Former namesCarlin Motorsport
Rodin Carlin
BaseFarnham, Surrey, England
Team principal(s)Trevor Carlin
Stephanie Carlin
Former seriesFIA Formula 2 Championship
FIA Formula 3 Championship
GB3 Championship
F1 Academy
F4 British Championship
F4 Spanish Championship
Formula 4 UAE Championship
ESkootr Championship
Formula Winter Series
A1 Grand Prix[a]
Porsche Supercup
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
Formula Renault 2.0 UK
Formula 3 Euro Series
British Formula 3 International Series
GP3 Series
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
Formula E[b]
GP2 Series
FIA European F3
European Le Mans Series
Asian Le Mans Series
Euroformula Open Championship
Indy Lights
IndyCar Series
Teams'
Championships
Formula Renault 3.5 Series:
2011
GP3 Series:
2014
F4 British Championship:
2015-2017 2020 2022-2023
Indy Lights:
2016
FIA Formula 2 Championship:
2018
Drivers'
Championships
British Formula 3 International Series:
2001: Takuma Sato
2003: Alan van der Merwe
2005: Álvaro Parente
2008: Jaime Alguersuari
2009: Daniel Ricciardo
2010: Jean-Éric Vergne
2011: Felipe Nasr
2012: Jack Harvey
2013: Jordan King
Formula Renault 3.5 Series:
2010: Mikhail Aleshin
2011: Robert Wickens
GP3 Series:
2014: Alex Lynn
F4 British Championship:
2015: Lando Norris
2016: Max Fewtrell
2017: Jamie Caroline
2019: Zane Maloney
2023: Louis Sharp
Indy Lights:
2016: Ed Jones
BRDC British F3 Championship:
2017: Enaam Ahmed
2019: Clément Novalak
FIA F3 European Championship:
2017: Lando Norris

Carlin, formerly known as Carlin Motorsport and Rodin Carlin, was a motor racing team based in the United Kingdom. It competed in six championships: FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 3 Championship, GB3 Championship, F1 Academy, F4 British Championship and Spanish F4 Championship.

Originally founded in 1996 by Trevor Carlin and Martin Stone, Carlin has competed in Porsche Supercup, Nissan World Series, Formula BMW UK, World Series by Renault, F3 Euro Series, British F3, FIA European F3 Championship, FIA Formula E, GP3 Series, GP2 Series all with race winning success.

In 2009, Carlin Motorsport was reborn as Carlin, part of the Capsicum Motorsport Group headed up by Grahame Chilton and Rupert Swallow. In 2023, New Zealand–based manufacturer Rodin Cars became the majority shareholder following investment from founder David Dicker, in a deal that saw the team rebrand as Rodin Carlin.[1][2] Trevor and Stephanie Carlin both departed the team in late 2023, with Dicker taking over fully and renaming the company Rodin Motorsport.[3][4]

Carlin has provided a well-trodden staircase to F1. Over 200 drivers have passed through the doors of the team, many on their way to the highest echelons of the sport, including F1 drivers Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, Takuma Sato, Anthony Davidson, Jaime Alguersuari, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Chilton, Jean-Éric Vergne, Kevin Magnussen, Felipe Nasr, Narain Karthikeyan, Rio Haryanto, George Russell, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris. Other notable Carlin drivers are Josef Newgarden, Patricio O'Ward, Conor Daly, Jamie Green, Oliver Jarvis, Oliver Turvey, Álvaro Parente, Charlie Kimball, Robert Wickens, Sérgio Sette Câmara and Ed Jones.

History

[edit]

Founded in 1996 as Carlin Motorsport, for the 2010 season, the team underwent a restructuring, with a significant investment from Grahame Chilton's Capsicum Motorsport. The team became known as simply Carlin, who sought the partnership in order to secure the long-term future of the team.[5]

A1 GP

[edit]

In the 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix season, Carlin were contracted to run the Lebanon,[6] Portugal[7] and Japan entries. The team stuck with just the Lebanon team for the 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons before switching to the Korea team in 2008–09 before the series folded next season.

British Formula 3

[edit]

The team has been competing in the British Formula 3 Championship since 1997. The team achieved their first victory with Narain Karthikeyan in 1999 and since 2001, has won 9 championships to become the most successful team in British F3 history. The champions are Takuma Sato (2001), Alan van der Merwe (2003), Álvaro Parente (2005), Jaime Alguersuari (2008), Daniel Ricciardo (2009), Jean-Éric Vergne (2010), Felipe Nasr (2011) Jack Harvey (2012), Jordan King (2013) and Enaam Ahmed (2017).

Formula 3 Euro Series and European Formula 3

[edit]

Carlin joined the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2008. In 2012, after poor results in the first three seasons, William Buller finished fifth and Carlos Sainz Jr. finished ninth. Carlin also entered the 2012 FIA European Formula 3 Championship, where Sainz finished fifth and Buller sixth.

In the 2013 FIA European Formula 3 Championship, Harry Tincknell was fifth and Jordan King was sixth. In 2014, Antonio Giovinazzi finished sixth, King seventh and Jake Dennis ninth. In 2015, Giovinazzi was runner-up and George Russell finished sixth. 2016 was a rough year for Carlin as none of its drivers finished in top 10 in the series.

However, in 2017, Lando Norris won the FIA European Formula 3 Championship as a rookie driver with Carlin, making Carlin the only team other than Prema to ever win the title in this series. Jehan Daruvala finished sixth and Ferdinand Habsburg was seventh. 2018 was the final year of FIA European Formula 3 Championship, in which Daruvala was tenth, Sacha Fenestraz was eleventh and Habsburg was thirteenth.

Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix

[edit]

Carlin has entered the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix since 1998. Takuma Sato won in 2001, Robert Kubica was second in 2005, Sébastien Buemi was fourth in 2006, Brendon Hartley was third in 2008, Felipe Nasr was second in 2011, António Félix da Costa was first in 2012 and again in 2016, and Antonio Giovinazzi was fourth in 2015.

Formula Nissan/Renault 3.5 Series

[edit]
Mikhail Aleshin driving for Carlin at the Donington Park round of the 2007 World Series by Renault season.

The team has been contesting in the series since 2003, and have won a race in the series every year since then. The team has won two drivers titles and one team championship. The champions are Mikhail Aleshin and Robert Wickens in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Carlin took a year sabbatical in 2014 due to driver and budgetary issues.[8] They returned in 2015, replacing Czech outfit ISR Racing, before withdrawing once again after the series lost its Renault backing. Carlin was replaced in the 2016 Formula V8 3.5 Championship by RP Motorsport.[9]

GP3

[edit]

The team joined the GP3 Series in 2010 for its inaugural season, which it finished 5th in the championship with 42 points overall. In its second season in 2011, the team finished 9th overall. In the 2012 the team finished third in the teams' standings and third in the drivers' championship after a strong season from António Félix da Costa and teammates Alex Brundle and Will Buller. Carlin were fourth in the teams' standings at the end of the 2013 season whilst Arden's Daniil Kvyat claimed the Driver's Championship. The following year, they claimed the Constructor's title in addition to Red Bull Junior driver Alex Lynn's title win. For the 2015 season, Jann Mardenborough, Mitch Gilbert and Ferrari Academy driver Antonio Fuoco will race for Carlin.

At the end of the 2015 season, Carlin withdrew from the series.

GP2

[edit]

The team joined the GP2 Series in 2011 for the first time. The team's lead driver was Max Chilton—a former Carlin driver in British F3—whilst the second seat was initially taken by Mikhail Aleshin, who had won the Formula Renault 3.5 Series championship with the team the previous year. He soon ran out of financial support and was replaced by Oliver Turvey (another former Carlin driver in other series), who made a one-off appearance before being replaced in turn by Álvaro Parente (the 2005 British F3 champion with Carlin).

For the 2012 season, the team formed a partnership with the Marussia Formula One team. Chilton retained his seat and improved dramatically, taking two race victories on his way to fourth place in the drivers' championship. His teammate was Rio Haryanto, promoted from the Marussia-backed Manor Motorsport GP3 Series team. He finished 14th in the championship with a pole position and a fastest lap, and Carlin improved to fifth place in the teams' championship.

In the 2013 season, Carlin improved once again with drivers Felipe Nasr and Jolyon Palmer, taking two wins in total and nine podiums. Nasr was a contender for the drivers' title up until the final stages of the season. An eventful season finale saw the team lose out on the teams' championship to Russian Time, with both finishing on equal points but Russian Time taking more wins over the course of the season.

Nasr left the team at the end of the 2014 season to race for Sauber in Formula One, while his co-driver Julián Leal was retained for 2015 and paired with Marco Sorensen. The team struggled throughout the season (often having to change drivers) and finished 9th overall, marking the first time since 2012 that Carlin failed to finish in the top two.

Carlin signed Marvin Kirchhofer and Sergio Canamasas for the 2016 season and finished tenth in the standings. The team withdrew from the series the following year.

Indy Lights

[edit]

On 1 November 2014, Carlin announced that the team would be joining the U.S. IndyCar feeder series, Indy Lights. They will start racing in the 2015 Indy Lights season, operating out of a new U.S. base in Poughkeepsie, New York. Dallara, AER and Cooper will be suppliers to the series, companies which Carlin has experience working with from previous series.

Ed Jones moved to Carlin's Indy Lights team in 2015 after driving in their Formula 3 efforts.[10] He was joined in Carlin's debut season by former Formula 1 drivers and Carlin graduates Max Chilton and temporarily Nelson Piquet Jr.

2016 saw Jones continue with the team, partnered by Félix Serrallés and Neil Alberico. Jones took the drivers championship on the season, while Carlin won the teams championship.

2017 saw only Alberico remain, while Zachary Claman DeMelo, Matheus Leist, and Garth Rickards joined the team. The highlight of the season was Leist winning the Freedom 100. Following the 2017 season, Carlin ended its Indy Lights program to focus on joining the IndyCar Series from 2018.

However, the team announced a return to the series for the 2021 season, becoming a part of the Jay Howard Driver Development ladder, with Alex Peroni and a yet to be announced driver forming their two car entry[11]

Formula One

[edit]

In April 2006, Trevor Carlin confirmed that the team had applied for a place in the Formula One World Championship from the 2008 season,[12] although this was later rejected, in favour of the Prodrive F1 application. They were linked with applying again in 2011, but the team denied this insisting it was concentrating on success in the junior formulas.[13]

Lets Race to Reality

[edit]

In 2014, Carlin announced that they had teamed up with Surrey-based simulator experience company, Lets Race. Open to any driver over 16, Lets Race to Reality's first round is held at the Lets Race simulator facility in Horley. The winners of the first round are invited to a karting event at Buckmore Park kart circuit in Kent, before a final selection process at Carlin's factory in Farnham. Finalists take part in various exercises, including a session in the team's professional simulator with a race engineer. The candidates then take part in an interview process with racing professionals, including Trevor Carlin and John Surtees. The winner of the event will receive a full day's testing in a Formula 3 car at Pembrey Circuit in Wales.

Piers Prior won the first competition in 2014, and completed his test at Pembrey in Jake Dennis' car.

Formula E

[edit]

In 2014, Carlin became the technical service provider of Mahindra Racing, running the outfit for the 2014–15 Formula E season.[14] Mahindra and Carlin split, and Mahindra have since partnered with Spanish team Campos Racing.[15]

IndyCar Series

[edit]
Max Chilton in 2018.

In December 2017, Carlin announced it would enter the IndyCar Series beginning with the 2018 season with two full-time entries that would be driven by two of its former drivers from Formula 3, Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball.[16] Carlin's entry to the IndyCar Series marked the team's debut in a non-junior open wheel formula, fulfilling a long-held dream for the team.[17] At the end of the 2021 season, Carlin pulled out of the series and sold its assets to Juncos Hollinger Racing.[18]

FIA Formula 2 Championship

[edit]

In 2018, Carlin joined FIA Formula 2 Championship, after withdrawing from the year before.[19] They grabbed the teams' title from their first attempt with Sérgio Sette Câmara and Lando Norris. In the drivers' championship, Norris finished in 2nd place and Sérgio Sette Câmara was in sixth. In 2019 Nobuharu Matsushita and Louis Delétraz represented the Carlin team and finished sixth and eighth respectively. 2020 saw another good results for Carlin, as their rookie driver Yuki Tsunoda finished in 3rd place in the drivers' championship and Carlin finished in third in teams' championship with four race wins to its name. Jehan Daruvala was in twelfth. Daruvala was retained for the 2021 season and Dan Ticktum joined the team to replace F1-bound Yuki Tsunoda.[20][21]

Formula 3

[edit]

In October 2018, Carlin was listed as one of ten teams that would participate in the inaugural FIA Formula 3 Championship.[22] In January 2019, Carlin entered into a partnership with Japanese investment firm Buzz, with the Honda-backed Teppei Natori joining their Formula 3 team as part of the deal, and partook in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship in collaboration with OIRC team YTB, fielding French driver Charles Milesi.[23][24] In 2020 Carlin achieved their first podium in F3 with Clement Novalak who finished 12th in the standings.

Sportscars

[edit]

Having previously run Sascha Maassen in the 2001 Porsche Supercup,[25] Carlin made a long-awaited return to sportscars by entering the 2019 European Le Mans Series LMP2 category with the only Dallara P217 on the grid.[26] Piloting the #45 would be Jack Manchester, Harry Tincknell and Ben Barnicoat, with Olivier Pla[27] and Harrison Newey featuring as one off replacements across the season.[28]

eSkootr Championship

[edit]

Carlin became the first team to announce their participation in the eSkootr Championship (eSc), an international electric racing scooter series, and the team's first involvement in a two-wheeled series.[29]

Extreme E

[edit]

In 2023, Lewis Hamilton's X44 will partner with Carlin for the 2023 season and will be led by team principal Stephanie Carlin.[30]

Results

[edit]

Notable drivers

[edit]

Current Formula One drivers

[edit]

Other notable drivers

[edit]

Timeline

[edit]
Former series
F4 British Championship 2015–2017, 2019–2023
GB3 Championship 2016–2023
FIA Formula 2 Championship 2018–2023
FIA Formula 3 Championship 2019–2023
F4 Spanish Championship 2023
Extreme E 2023
F1 Academy 2023
British Formula Three Championship 1997–2014
Porsche Supercup 2001
World Series by Nissan 2003–2004
Formula BMW UK 2004–2007
3000 Pro Series 2005
Italian Formula Three Championship 2005
A1 Grand Prix 2005–2009
Formula Renault 3.5 Series 2005–2013, 2015
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 2007
British Formula Renault Championship 2007
Formula 3 Euro Series 2008–2009, 2011–2012
GP3 Series 2010–2015
GP2 Asia Series 2011
GP2 Series 2011–2016
FIA Formula 3 European Championship 2012–2018
Formula E 2014–2015
Indy Lights 2015–2017, 2021
Euroformula Open Championship 2016–2021
IndyCar Series 2018–2021
Japanese Formula 3 Championship 2019
European Le Mans Series 2019
Asian Le Mans Series 2019–2020
ESkootr Championship 2022
Formula 4 UAE Championship 2023

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ Operation Team at A1 Team Japan, A1 Team Korea, A1 Team Lebanon, A1 Team Portugal
  2. ^ Operation Team at Mahindra Racing team

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Wood, Ida (25 January 2023). "Carlin moves into Spanish F4 as Rodin joins as majority shareholder". Formula Scout. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Leading junior motorsport team Rodin Carlin to rebrand as Rodin Motorsport". Rodin Motorsport. 9 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  3. ^ Coch, Mat (29 November 2023). "Junior racing stalwart Carlin departs". Speedcafe.com. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  4. ^ Noble, Jonathan (4 December 2023). "Stephanie Carlin joins McLaren as F1 business operations director". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  5. ^ English, Steven (4 November 2009). "Carlin team restructured for 2010". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 November 2009.
  6. ^ A Team Lebanon informations Archived 8 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine a1podium.com
  7. ^ A Team Portugal informations Archived 31 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine a1podium.com
  8. ^ Allen, Peter. "Carlin to be absent from start of FR3.5 season", Paddock Scout, 7 April 2014. Retrieved on 24 November 2014.
  9. ^ Allen, Peter. "Carlin set to return to Formula Renault 3.5 in 2015, ISR out", Paddock Scout, 19 November 2014. Retrieved on 24 November 2014.
  10. ^ "JONES TO INDY LIGHTS" Archived 26 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Carlin, 12 December 2014. Retrieved on 12 December 2014.
  11. ^ "Carlin return to Indy Lights with Peroni". www.indylights.com. 20 December 2020. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Carlin confirms F1 entry application". uk.sports.yahoo.com. 11 April 2006. Retrieved 11 April 2006.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ "Carlin pours cold water on F1 2011 entry bid talk". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  14. ^ "CARLIN TECHNICAL SERVICE PROVIDER TO MAHINDRA RACING IN FIA FORMULA E". carlin.co.uk. Carlin. 8 July 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  15. ^ "Mahindra and Carlin set for Formula E split". Sam Smith. Motorsport.com. 5 July 2015. Archived from the original on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  16. ^ Errington, Tom (12 December 2017). "Carlin enters IndyCar with two-car team for Kimball, Chilton". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  17. ^ "Indycar Racing News - Carlin's IndyCar program 'a dream come true'". Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  18. ^ "Juncos Hollinger enters technical alliance with Carlin for 2022 IndyCar season". RACER. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  19. ^ "Carlin leaves GP2 Series ahead of 2017 season". autosport.com.
  20. ^ "Tsunoda to make F1 racing debut with AlphaTauri in 2021, in place of Kvyat". formula1.com.
  21. ^ "TICKTUM COMPLETES CARLIN'S F2 LINE-UP". Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  22. ^ Simmons, Marcus (12 October 2018). "FIA Formula 3 2019 team list revealed, including Mercedes ally HWA". Autosport. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  23. ^ "CARLIN ANNOUNCE TITLE PARTNER 'BUZZ' AND NATORI IN 2019 FIA FORMULA 3". 11 January 2019. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  24. ^ Wood, Elliot (20 January 2019). "Charles Milesi and Rui Andrade graduate to Formula 3 for 2019". FormulaScout. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  25. ^ "Carlin enters Porsche Supercup with Maassen". Autosport.com. Autosport. 2 February 2001. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  26. ^ Watkins, Gary (12 February 2019). "Carlin launches first sportscar programme with ELMS LMP2 entry". www.autosport.com. Autosport. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  27. ^ "Carlin announce title partnership and driver line-up for ELMS". www.automobilsport.com. automobilsport. 1 April 2019. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  28. ^ "Newey replaces hospitalised Carlin ELMS driver". www.motorsport.com. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  29. ^ "CARLIN ANNOUNCED AS FIRST OFFICIAL ESKOOTR CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM". www.carlin.co.uk/. 21 January 2021. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  30. ^ "Sir Lewis Hamilton's title-winning X44 Vida Carbon Racing announces new team direction". Extreme E - The Electric Odyssey. 7 March 2023.
[edit]
Achievements
Preceded by Formula Renault 3.5 Series Teams' Champion
2011
Succeeded by
Preceded by GP3 Series Teams' Champion
2014
Succeeded by
Preceded by Indy Lights Teams' Champion
2016
Succeeded by
Preceded by FIA Formula 2 Teams' Champion
2018
Succeeded by