Updated – see final paragraphs.
Carlin Motorsport, one of Britain’s most succcessful F3 squads, has been restructured following a major investment by Capsicum Motorsport – a company established by the father of racers Tom and Max Chilton.
According to a press statement from the team, it will now be known simply as Carlin and it says that the deal will “maintain and continue an unparalleled 10 year track record of winning achievement by Carlin in the F3 motor racing world.”
The new outfit is set to compete in F3, World Series by Renault and the new GP3 series from next season. While Tom drives in the BTCC, the younger Max has just finished a season as a Carlin F3 driver. He has now moved onto GP2 Asia with frontrunning squad Barwa Addax, undoubtedly with an eye on the main series.
Trevor Carlin, now Carlin’s Race Director, said: “I am delighted to have secured the backing of Capsicum that has allowed me to continue to do the thing I enjoy most – creating winning teams.
“I am especially excited about our prospects in the 2010 season coming off the back of such a great performance in 2009. Our entry into the new GP3 series creates fresh challenges and opportunities for us and I am already looking forward to the first races.”
Rupert Swallow, Managing Director of Capsicum, said: “We have been very impressed by Carlin’s ability to produce winning teams in Formula 3 and Formula Renault 3.5 races around Europe.
“We are excited by the prospect of creating this new joint venture and assisting in creating a successful business to support the racing activities. We are looking forward to building and enhancing this already stellar brand.”
Update: As part of the restructuring, Carlin has pulled out of the F3 Euroseries in order to concentrate on the new GP3 championship.
Trevor Carlin told Autosport that the decision was made because the team was having trouble catching up with Euroseries squads that had more experience with the series equipment: “We’re going to cut our losses and move on to different things. With GP3 we’re going into a new championship at the very beginning, so we’ll be starting on a level playing field.”
He accepted that the Capsicum deal had come at a time when the team was suffering financial problems: “We probably could’ve struggled on, but Capsicum has come in and put us on a solid financial footing.” He called the deal a “perfect marriage” between the business skills of Chilton’s company and his own race team experience.