Race Incident

The 2007 German Formula 3 champion and the 2008 Japanese Formula 3 champion Carlo van Dam surprised most people when he yesterday announced that he would join the Kolles & Heinz Union Volkswagen team in this year’s F3 Euro Series. Van Dam, who totally dominated the Japanese championship last year, was by many believed to move up the ranks into GP2 or perhaps to Formula Nippon. The move back to Europe to continue for a third season in Formula 3 cars was a bit of a surprise and may unfortunately be down to the simple fact of not being able to raise enough funds to have a real good seat in the extremely expensive GP2 series.

Carlo comments on the move in his press release:

“I look forward to contribute to the success of this new team and working with Volkswagen. I had a fantastic season in Japan in 2008 and last autumn I had several offers from teams in Formula Nippon and the Japanese GT championship. Then Japanese motor racing was hit hard by the financial crisis, however, so I very much welcomed the offer from Kolles & Heinz Union and Volkswagen. As a driver, to be asked to help achieve the ambitions of a works supported team is very rewarding and of course it represents a great challenge.”

If the new F3 team can bring Carlo a competitive car he will be up there fighting for his third Formula 3 championship title.