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INDYCAR: Coloni GP2 Team Evaluating IndyCar Options
Scuderia Coloni is hoping to use its network of talented and funded European open-wheel hopefuls to expand the team into the North American market.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted July 16, 2012  
The Coloni team, under a variety of names and ownership configurations, has been a regular part of the European F3000/GP2 scene since 1997. (Photo: LAT)
With news from the Scuderia Coloni team during the British Grand Prix weekend that it would be departing the FIA GP2 series at the end of the season, the veteran Italian outfit could now turn its attention to the IZOD IndyCar Series, according to team principal Paolo Coloni.

A release from the team on July 7th confirmed Coloni's imminent departure from GP2 without explaining the reason behind the sudden decision:

"Scuderia Coloni will leave GP2 at the end of 2012. As a result of a disagreement between the team and the Series organizer, an agreement was reached in order to terminate the contract between the two parties at the end of this season. As a consequence of the team not taking part in the 2013 championship, Scuderia Coloni has accepted to forfeit all the points scored in the 2012 team classification."

Founded by Enzo Coloni, the team started out in F3 and F3000 and later earned notoriety for its resilience during a mostly fruitless five-year spell in Formula One that began in 1987.
Paolo Coloni, like his father Enzo, was a skilled F3 driver before turning his attention to matters on the other side of the pit wall. (Photo: LAT)

It concluded its run in F1 at the end of the 1991 season, and returned to its roots running in a variety of national championships in Italy.

The team would eventually resurface in International F3000, and after earning six wins in the renamed GP2 category, the open-wheel stalwarts are now taking a look at placing and/or running drivers in IndyCar.

"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."
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