Kristian Kolby (born 9 October 1978) is a Danish racing driver from Ringkøbing in Denmark.
Career
Kolby was based in the United Kingdom, but raced all over the world, for many years and was a successful single seater racer, Sportscar and touring car racer. Prior to this, he was a successful karting champion in both his native Denmark and in the UK.
Kolby is a former British Formula Ford champion for the Van Diemen team beating team mate Mark Webber to the title. He went on to become a race winner in the UK Formula Renault series again with Van Diemen, UK Formula Three series, finishing fourth in the British championship in 1999. In 2000, he progressed to the F3000 series with the DAMS team partnering Franck Montagny taking a best finish of fourth at the Nurburgring in a difficult season for both the DAMS drivers. Kolby also undertook media and testing work for the BAR F1 team occasionally, but ultimately never raced.
Kolby moved to Conquest Racing in the American Indy Lights series in 2001, competing against his childhood friend Daniel Wheldon.McKevitt, Greg (2001) "Rookie Faulkner wins in impressive debut race ", RTÉ Sport, 29 April 2001, retrieved 9 February 2010"CHAMPCAR/CART: Surfers Paradise: Conquest Racing race report ", motorsport.com, 2004-10-24, retrieved 9 February 2010 His win in Indy Lights at Kansas is one of the world's closest motor race finishes as he narrowly beat Irishman Damien Faulkner by 0.001secs.
Before finishing in single-seater racing, Kolby also competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race for the DAMS (Driot-Arnoux Motorsport) Cadillac team, as well as races for the Ascari team, notably the Sebring 12hrs. He also competed in touring car races in the Danish Touring Car Challenge during the 2000 season dovetailing his F3000 year."DTC: Season finale ", motorsport.com, 2000-10-09, retrieved 9 February 2010
Kolby retired from racing in 2003 at a young age. He carried on doing media and TV presenting work in his native work, before concentrating on a business career in the UK.
Racing record
Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points 2000 DAMS IMO SIL CAT NUR MON MAG A1R HOC HUN SPA 23rd 2 2002 European Minardi F3000 INT IMO CAT A1R MON NUR SIL MAG HOC HUN SPA MNZ NC 0
American open–wheel racing results (key)
Indy Lights Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points Ref 2001 Conquest RacingMTYLBHTXSMILPOR KAN TORMOHGATATLLAGFON8th80
24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Team DAMS Marc Goossens Christophe Tinseau Cadillac Northstar LMP LMP900 4 DNF DNF
References