Craft-Bamboo Racing
 |
|
| Founded | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Team principal(s) | Richard Coleman (Group CEO) Frank Yu (Chairman) |
| Current series |
WTCC TCR International Series GT Asia Series |
| Former series |
BTCC GP3 Series FIA World Endurance Championship Asian Le Mans Series |
| Current drivers |
WTCC 11.  Grégoire DemoustierTCR 74.  Pepe Oriola77.  Sergey Afanasyev88. Jordi Gene99.  Frank YuGT Asia 88. Frank Yu/ Richard Lyons99. Darryl O'Young/ Jonathan Venter
|
| Teams' Championships |
Asian Le Mans Series CN: 2014 |
| Drivers' Championships |
Ind. WTCC: 2013: James Nash Asian Le Mans Series CN: 2014: Kevin Tse GT Asia Series: 2015: Darryl O'Young |
Craft-Bamboo Racing was created when two leaders in their respective industries decided to join together and create an international motorsport enterprise. Craft Racing, from Hong Kong, was established in 2009 and was a front running team in Asian Championships for five years and won many prestigious races, obtaining top championship positions throughout the region. Bamboo Engineering, based in Silverstone, was founded by Richard Coleman in 2009 and has run cars in both the WTCC and GP3 series. Success was enjoyed in both categories, with the WTCC team finishing third in the drivers championship in 2013, making them the first independent team to do so. Sharing a similar history and most importantly, carrying the same values and vision in their approach to motorsport, the two companies decided to merge in early 2014. The intent is to create an integrated team that can design, build and win for the team and its partners. Craft-Bamboo Racing is already becoming a modern motorsport powerhouse, demonstrating their ability to win on the race track as a top tier independent team.
The team was formed in July 2009 following the departure of team director Richard Coleman from Tempus Sport. Bamboo ran former Tempus driver Harry Vaulkhard in the 2009 British Touring Car Championship season scoring several top 10 finishes to finish 16th overall in the championship.
Bamboo entered a pair of Chevrolet Lacettis in the one off 2009 European Touring Car Cup as a prelude to the 2010 entry in Braga, Portugal. Vaulkhard entered alongside Duarte Fèlix da Costa.
In qualifying the pair locked out the second row of the grid with Costa 3rd and Vaulkhard 4th, eventually finishing race 1 8th & 5th respectively. In race 2 Vaulkhard led the race in what would have been a championship winning position before spinning out of contention and ending up crossing the line in 6th place. Da Costa inherited the lead which would have also sealed the title for him and also spun out, ultimately finishing 7th.
In 2010 the team entered the World Touring Car Championship, initially with Vaulkhard and Darryl O'Young as drivers. Vaulkhard took the teams maiden WTCC Independents victory at 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Italy. O'Young followed that up with the first ever victory for a Chinese driver in an FIA event at the 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Portugal; which he followed up with victories in Rounds 13 & 14 in Brno, earning the team's first pole position after finishing 8th in race 1 to secure reverse grid role for race 2. O'Young was later given a 30-second time penalty in race one, demoting him down the field and stripping him of his victory. Funding issues saw Vaulkard's season cut short and Yukinori Taniguchi stepped in to replace him for the latter part of the season. He claimed a class victory in the first race at his home event in Japan, and that success was quickly followed up with a victory for O'Young in the second. O'Young entered the final races in Macau as the only man with an outside chance of taking the title from Sergio Hernandez; after a crash with Tom Coronel in race 1 putting him both out of the race, Hernandez took the title and O'Young dropped to 4th in the standings. At the end of their debut season the team claimed second place in the Yokohama Teams' Trophy standings.
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