In the latest column for the Carlin team, team principal Trevor Carlin looks back over a busy campaign for his team and talks exclusively about the announcement of a move into GP2 for the 2007 season.
This year has probably been the most hectic year for the Carlin team since we started in 1997. It seems quite unbelievable that we started out doing road shows and pit stop challenges for the
Williams F1 team and now we run teams in Formula
BMW, F3, A1GP, World Series by Renault and, as of this past week, GP2. The team has grown quite considerably in the last nine years. This year we had a total of 63 employees and competed in 80 races. That will obviously increase next year with GP2.
At the start of the year we were putting together a bid to enter the 2008 F1 Championship and although that was unsuccessful, we are still positive about the opportunity to enter the championship in the future.
All of the teams put in a great effort this year. We’re lucky that we have such a great group of people who are able to look after the different championships and their own projects and somehow it all just comes together. The Formula BMW team had a fantastic start to the season. Winning the first race at
Brands Hatch was a great achievement for Oliver Oakes. Oli’s win was a landmark victory for the team, being the 100th win since our first race in 1997.
After a good start, the rest of the season didn’t quite fulfil the team’s true potential. Oli had a strong season and although he didn’t qualify for the Rookie Cup, he was the highest placed new driver, challenging drivers with one or more season’s experience. He definitely deserved his place in the
McLaren Autosport BRDC final. Niall Quinn also did a great job in his first season, winning five races in the Rookie Cup, to finish third in the Rookie standings.
