Craft-Bamboo Racing

/ 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 Demoustier TCR 74. Pepe Oriola 77. Sergey Afanasyev 88. Jordi Gene 99. Frank Yu GT Asia 88. Frank Yu/ Richard Lyons 99. Darryl O'Young/ Jonathan Venter
Teams' Championships	2014 Asian Le Mans CN
Drivers' Championships	2013 Ind. WTCC (Nash) 2014 Asian Le Mans Series CN (Tse) 2015 GT Asia (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.

British Touring Car Championship

Chevrolet Lacetti (2009)

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.

European Touring Car Cup

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.

World Touring Car Championship

Chevrolet Lacetti (2010–2011)

Title showdown. O'Young on the grid in Macau 2010.

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.

Bamboo retained O'Young and Taniguchi for the 2011 season, continuing with the Chevrolet Lacetti for the 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil.

Chevrolet Cruze (2011–2013)

The team switched to the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T for 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Belgium, replacing the Chevrolet Lacettis they ran in the opening round. O'Young took the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy victory in race two. That was to be the only independent victory for the team in 2011, the team ended the year fifth in the Yokohama Teams' Trophy standings.

Holland on home turf in the 2012 WTCC Race of Sonoma

For 2012 the team had agreed a deal with RML Group which would see them run the same specification of car as the factory Chevrolet team. They signed former BTCC driver Alex MacDowall and Formula Renault 3.5 race winner Pasquale di Sabatino in an all–rookie lineup. The team left the opening round of the season at Monza with MacDowall tied at the top of the Independent Drivers' Trophy with Stefano D'Aste and Pepe Oriola. MacDowall was the fastest independent driver in qualifying for the Race of Austria and took his first WTCC independent victory in race one, the first of the season for Bamboo. For the Race of Brazil, di Sabatino was recovering from bronchitis and pneumonia was ruled out of competing by doctors with Michel Nykjær substituting for the Italian driver for the weekend. Nykjær took the independents' pole position and then the independents' win in race one by finishing in fifth place. The team signed Robb Holland to race their second car at the Race of the United States. O'Young returned to the team for the Race of Japan for the remainder of the season. MacDowall finished fifth in race one having started on the second row of the grid to take the independent drivers' victory. Both drivers were involved in a first lap pileup at the Race of China in race one with both drivers eventually retiring due to race incidents. The team went to the season finale in Macau with a slim chance for MacDowall to take the independent drivers' title. The weekend got off to a bad start when O'Young collided head on the barriers at the Mandarin Oriental corner in Thursday testing. O'Young took the independents' pole position in qualifying and then the independents' victory in race one after being the last car to escape the pileup at the Lisboa corner. MacDowall starting from pole position in race two was quickly passed by Norbert Michelisz at the start. He retook the leader later on but then the pair of them were passed by the works Chevrolet of Alain Menu. MacDowall's race ended when he was tapped from behind by Yvan Muller and collided head–on with the barriers on the exit of the high speed Mandarin bend. O'Young took his second independents' victory of the weekend.

Nash during the 2013 Race of Japan

Bamboo engineering stayed in the WTCC for the 2013 season with James Nash joining from Team Aon. The team retained MacDowall in their second car. The team left the Race of Italy with MacDowall having claimed his first overall podium result and Nash leading the independent drivers' trophy, the team were second in the teams' trophy behind RML. Nash secured his first podium finish at the Race of Morocco in race one when he finished third. Nash took the independent driver's victory in race two, the two Bamboo drivers then shared the independent victories at the Race of Slovakia. Bamboo took their first overall victory in the WTCC at the Race of Austria when Nash held off the advances of Yvan Muller in the final laps of race two to finish on the top step of the podium having started from pole position. Nash followed this up with a second victory of the season in Race 2 in Portugal with a lights to flag victory from pole position 5 seconds ahead of reigning World Champion Rob Huff. MacDowall and Nash continued to trade independent class victories throughout the remainder of the season, with MacDowall victorious in the United States & Japan, where he also took an overall an podium for second, and Nash took both wins and an overall podium for 3rd in China. The pair went into the finale at Macau both with a chance of taking the independent crown. Nash sealed this in race one by following MacDowall home and then sealed 3rd in the World Championship with a 4th place whilst main rival Tom Chilton crashed out of both races. Nash & MacDowall shared 12 independent race wins between them in a dominant year for bamboo.

Chevrolet Cruze TC1 (2015)

After the sabbatical in 2014 whilst the squad competed in the World Endurance Championship, Bamboo returned to the World Touring Car Championship in 2015 continuing their relationship with RML and Chevrolet by competing with the Chevrolet Cruze in its new TC1 format. The team signed successful GT driver Gregoire Demoustier for the season which begun in promising fashion with the Frenchman scoring on his debut in Race 2 in Argentina with a 10th place. Another good result for Demoustier and a 10th place was secured in Race 2 at the Hungaroring. Following a major upgrade for the Slovakia round, Demoustier narrowly missed out on a reverse grid pole position at his home race in Paul Ricard, France by 0.015 seconds, after running in the top 6 in both free practice sessions. The Frenchman put on a similar competitive display in China running high up in the practice sessions and again just missing out on Q2.

GP3 Series

In 2013, Bamboo joined the GP3 Series as the replacement for Atech CRS Grand Prix. After testing with the team at the Autódromo do Estoril, Venezuelan Roberto La Rocca became the first driver to join the team. Following the death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and the changing political situation in the country, La Rocca was forced to exit the team and he was replaced by Carmen Jordá. The team signed British drivers Melville McKee and Lewis Williamson to drive their other two cars. McKee took a his and the teams first victory in race 2 at the Nurburgring.
At the end of the season the team was sold to Russian Time.

FIA World Endurance Championship

For 2014 Craft-Bamboo secured a technical partnership with Prodrive run Aston Martin Racing to run an Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE car in the FIA WEC in the GTE Pro category. Alex MacDowall made the jump from the WTCC with the team as one of the drivers along with long term driver Darryl O'Young. The third seat was filled by Brazilian Fernando Rees, a previous champion in the series. Steady progress was made through the season with the #99 car battling for the class lead during the early hours for the 6 hours of Spa and the Lone Star Le Mans at Austin Texas. A crash in the first night session of the Le Mans 24 Hours with Rees behind the wheel left the Aston unrepairable, which unfortunately meant the team failed to take the start and compete in the flagship event for the series. The breakthrough came at the 6 hours of Fuji, with MacDowall and Rees qualifying the Vantage in pole position. After a tense 6 hour long battle during the race, the #99 ultimately missed out on the race win to the two Ferraris by 30 seconds — about the amount of time lost in the re-fuelling during the race. Competitive showings at the Chinese and Brazilian rounds showed the #99 had made progress and finished the season with a strong 4th place in the 6 Hours of São Paulo.

TCR International Series

Seat Leon (2015)

In 2015 Craft-Bamboo signed up for the brand new TCR International series, running TC3 specification Seat Leons in partnership with Lukoil. Former World Touring Car race winners Pepe Oriola and Jordi Gene were signed to compete for the season alongside Russian former F2 and GT racer Sergey Afanasyev. A fourth car was added for selected events for Hong Kong driver Frank Yu, who previously raced for Craft Bamboo in the GT Asia series. At the opening round supporting the Malaysian GP and the inaugural race of the championship, Oriola and Afanasyev fought up from qualifying 7th and 8th to finish 2nd and 3rd to secure a double podium. This was followed by a lights to flag victory for Gene in race 2, and Oriola marking another battling performance by finishing 2nd again. The first European round in Spain gave Gene & Oriola a chance to shine at their home race, Oriola delivered a stunning pole position lap and translated that into a light to flag victory in Race 1, followed home by Afanasyev and Gene to complete a Craft Bamboo 1-2-3. Gene secured another two podiums in Portugal for a 2nd place in race and snatched a 3rd place at the last corner of race 2 after a charge that saw him 8th with 4 laps remaining. Gene and Oriola took a 1-2 finish at Lukoils home race in Sochi to close the fight for the championship right up. Oriola further closed the gap following a double podium at the Red Bull Ring and a win and a third in Thailand, including the teams second 1-2-3 of the season, to just 2 points going into the Finale in Macau. Gene also remains in the title hunt at the last round after his third victory of the season in Singapore.

Asia

GT Asia

Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (2014-2015)

As part of the link up with Craft Racing at the start of 2014, Craft Bamboo took over the entry of two GT3 Aston Martin Vantages in the GT Asia Championship, a highly regarded continental series where the team received technical back from Aston Martin Racing. The #97 car was driven all year by longtime Craft driver Frank Yu and was partnered by Australian V8 Supercar driver Warren Luff, Aston Martin Racing works driver Stefan Mucke and experienced GT racer Richard Lyons. The #99 car was shared through the season by several drivers with Jonathan Venter spending 3 weekends in the car.
After taking solid points in the opening round in Korea, the #97 driven by Lyons & Yu took pole position at the second race in Autopolis, Japan. They failed to take the win but still finished strongly in second place. The breakthrough win did come at round 7 in the teams home race in Malaysia with Mucke this time partnering Yu. The only win of the season. Solid results meant Yu was still in title contention heading into the final race at Macau but couldn't do enough to secure the title and ended up 7th in the standings. A DQ at round 4 in Autopolis and a DNF's at the following face at Fuji and another at round 9 in Malaysia ultimately costing him and the team. The team however did enough to finish second in the teams championship.
For 2015 Craft Bamboo announced the two Aston Martin Vantages would return for the season, both staffed with full-time drivers. Frank Yu would continue and partnered full-time with Richard Lyons, and in the #99 car Jonathon Venter secured a full-time drive with backing from Aston Martin and will partner former Manufacturer driver Darryl O'Young. The first round in Korea saw the #88 car of Lyons secure pole position and go on to take a third place. The spoils were shared out in the second race at O'Young and Venter in the #99 Aston Martin took an impressive race victory. During the summer Venter broke his leg in a cycling accident at home in Australia, and Brit Daniel Lloyd was drafted in to replace him in the #99 Aston. Lloyd took a podium on his opening weekend with O'Young in the 12 hours of Sepang race, and followed up with a double victory in Shanghai to allow the #99 car to take the championship lead with one event remaining. Lloyd took a stunning last gasp victory in Shanghai, after being 5th at the end of a safety car period with 3 laps remaining completed an overtaking move round the outside of turn 1 to take the lead on the final lap. Qualifying issues in Thailand saw O'Young & Lloyd in the #99 start well down the grid while their main competitors scored a solid result meaning #99 would go into the final race level on points with their Bentley rivals of Song/Sawa, but starting behind them in second on the grid. O'Young sealed the drivers title for craft bamboo racing however with a fine victory.

FIA GT World Cup

It was announced at the end of 2015 that craft-bamboo would compete in the inaugural FIA GT World Cup with 3 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 cars as Aston Martins representative on the world stage. 2015 regulars Darryl O'Young and Richard Lyons were announced for the event in Macau, along with long time Aston Martin manufacturer driver Stefan Mucke. Mucke topped free practice two and qualifying to start the qualifying race in role position with O'Young 6th and Lyons, despite problems in free practice, starting 7th. Stefan Mucke won the qualifying race on the road but was handed a retrospective 10 second penalty for an infringement under the safety car which was triggered by Adderly Fong. In the main feature race Mucke had a race long battle with the Audis of multiple Macau Grand Prix winner Eduardo Mortara and team mate Rene Rast as well as the manufacturer Mercedes of Renger van der Zande. He eventually finished in 3rd place. O'Young finished in 5th place whilst Lyons crashed out on the opening lap.

Asian Le Mans Series

Chan, Beche & Tse at 3 Hours of Fuji 2014

2014 also saw Craft Bamboo enter the Asian Le Mans series in the CN category with a solitary Ligier Morgan-Judd after initially confirming two CN cars alongside an LMP2 entry. A perfect season was completed with the squad taking class pole, victory and fastest lap at each of the four rounds as they were crowned Champions. Full season driver Kevin Tse also took the drivers title. Mathias Beche, Jonathan Venter, Samson Chan, Frank Yu and Naoki Yokomizo all drove for part of the season. Craft Bamboo would not return in 2015 to defend their title, choosing to focus on other series.

TCR Asia

In June 2015 Craft Bamboo announced their entry in to the inaugural 2015 TCR Asia Series, a six event series.

Results

World Touring Car Championship

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Y.T. Wins	Poles	F.L.	Points	Y.T. Pos.	D.C.	T.C.
2010	Chevrolet Lacetti	Darryl O'Young	22	0	3	0	0	15	4th	15th	2nd
		Yukinori Taniguchi	8	0	1	0	0	4	10th	18th
		Harry Vaulkhard	14	0	1	0	0	1	8th	21st
2011	Chevrolet Lacetti Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	Darryl O'Young	24	0	1	0	0	43	6th	14th	5th
		Yukinori Taniguchi	21	0	0	0	0	6	13th	20th
2012	Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	Alex MacDowall	24	0	2	0	0	68	5th	11th	4th
		Darryl O'Young	8	0	2	0	0	37	6th	14th
		Michel Nykjær	2	0	1	0	0	20	12th	16th
		Pasquale di Sabatino	16	0	0	0	0	0	16th	NC
		Robb Holland	2	0	0	0	0	0	20th	NC
2013	Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	Alex MacDowall	24	0	5	0	2	141	2nd	11th	2nd
		James Nash	24	2	7	0	0	223	1st	3rd
2015	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	Gregoire Demoustier	24	0	0	0	0	5	7th	20th	6th

Y.T. signifies Yokohama Trophy for which independent teams and drivers are eligible

GP3 Series

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F.L.	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2013	Dallara-Renault	Lewis Williamson	14	0	0	0	44	11th	6th
		Melville McKee	14	1	0	0	31	14th
		Carmen Jordá	16	0	0	0	0	30th
		Alice Powell	2	0	0	0	0	31st

World Endurance Championship

Year	Car	Number	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F.L.	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2014	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	#99	Darryl O'Young Alex MacDowall Fernando Rees	7	0	1	0	55.5	12th	6th

FIA GT World Cup

Year	Car	Drivers	Number	Races	Poles	F.L.	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2015	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	Darryl O'Young	55	2	0	0	10	5th	3rd
		Richard Lyons	99	2	0	0	0	7th
		Stefan Mucke	97	2	1	2	15	3rd

TCR International Championship

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F.L.	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2015	SEAT León	Pepe Oriola	22	2	1	4	312	2nd	2nd
		Sergey Afanasyev	21	0	0	1	134	7th
		Jordi Gene	22	3	1	1	285	3rd
		Frank Yu	6	0	0	0	2	37th

GT Asia Series

Year	Car	Number	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F.L.	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2014	Aston Martin Vantage	#97	Frank Yu	13	1	1	3	122	7th	2nd
			Warren Luff	2	0	0	0	23	25th
			Richard Lyons	4	0	1	0	40	17th
			Stefan Mucke	6	1	0	3	43	15th
		#99	Natasha Seatter	2	0	0	0	11	46th
			Tacksung Kim	2	0	0	0	11	46th
			Daniel Bilski	4	0	0	0	20	30th
			Jonathan Venter	6	0	0	0	34	20th
			Carlo van Dam	2	0	0	0	18	31st
			S Tannart	2	0	0	0	18	31st
			Kevin Gleason	2	0	0	0	14	45th
2015	Aston Martin Vantage	#88	Frank Yu	11	0	0	0	58	11th	2nd
			Richard Lyons	11	0	3	0	58	11th
		#99	Darryl O'Young	11	4	0	0	127	1st
			Jonathan Venter	6	1	2	0	63	9th
			Daniel Lloyd	5	3	2	0	64	8th

External links

• Official site