Coloni team to quit GP2, move to IndyCar with Luca Filippi

UPDATE #3 With IndyCar races now rumored for Italy, this rumor takes on greater significance. At Singapore Italian team Coloni raced their last ever GP2 race with Italian driver Luca Filippi who has himself been eyeing a move to IndyCar… We're quite sure they will do 'something big' next year and move to IndyCar. In addition to this, they (Coloni) also organize the Auto GP Series, which they will continue to do next year.

07/16/12

Paolo Coloni

This rumor is upgraded to 'strong' today. "Apart from owning a team that will race in the GP2 Series until the end of the 2012, I’m also managing some drivers," Paolo Coloni told SPEED.com. "As a driver manager, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to help them in becoming motorsport 'pros,' really earning a life from racing.

"In Europe all [these] young talents spend million[s of] euros in GP2 and [Formula] Renault 3.5 in order to boost their careers, but [the] reality is that unless you are followed directly by a manufacturer, the only way to enter F1 is having at least 15 million euros, [and] that will buy you a seat in the last two rows of the grid."

"So it’s time to realize that from Europe we need to look for other options, and I believe that IndyCar offers a lot to a driver and to his potential sponsors," he continued. "It’s a huge show and in terms of media interest and coverage, fan base and so on it’s much better than what Europe can offer below Formula 1.

"Looking at both the far and recent past there are European drivers that managed to became crowd favorites in IndyCar. I’m speaking about Alex Zanardi, Max Papis, Dario Franchitti among others, so I really think that we should pay attention to what happens on the other side of the pond."

With its participation in the GP2 Series ending soon–the week after the IndyCar finale at Fontana, the next step for the team is to open lines of communication with potential partners in the IndyCar Series.

"So I would like to create a link that can regularly bring European drivers to IndyCar," Coloni explained. "This could be done with my own team, or it could begin bringing a driver to an existing outfit and then evolve in a Coloni IndyCar team later.

"I’m open to many options, but I can’t deny that bringing our name to race on the same field as a great family of American motorsport like the Andrettis, as well as competitive teams as Penske and Rahal Letterman [Lanigan], would be really motivating for us." speedtv.com

Luca Filippi

07/12/12 Having announced they are leaving GP2 after 2012, Coloni have begun discussions with IndyCar for next year according to Autosport Magazine. Speculation is that Luca Filippi, who drove for them in GP2 as recently as 2011, will be the driver.

07/06/12 Coloni Motorsport will be pulling out of GP2 at the end of the 2012 season.

Both parties have issued statements confirming the split, but the GP2 Series has declined to comment further. On Friday it sent out the following, brief message:

‘As a result of a disagreement between Coloni Motorsport and GP2 Organization, the following decisions have been agreed between Coloni Motorsport and the Organizer:

The Italian outfit has raced in GP2 since 2006. It originally entered as Fisichella Motor Sport, with backing from then Formula 1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella, before switching to respective names of Scuderia Coloni and the current guise of Coloni Motorsport.