Craig Dolby Pushing For WEC Return in 2014

Craig Dolby has spoken of his intention to return to the World Endurance Championship, after a promising sportscar debut with the ADR-Delta team at China and Bahrain.

Leicestershire racer Dolby, a former winner in the Superleague Formula single-seater championship for Tottenham Hotspur, had spent two years on the sidelines without a drive before receiving the call from his Superleague engineer Simon Dowson, now team manager at ADR, to race in the final two rounds of the WEC and only missed out on a podium in Bahrain when mechanical dramas struck.

Having come back from the brink of career obscurity, Dolby wants to continue his current trajectory to the Le Mans 24 Hours, the pinnacle of the sportscar calendar.

Dolby getting to grips with the ADR-Delta no. 25 in Bahrain.

“For sure, I thought it was over,” admits Dolby. “The two year gap of not driving anything was very difficult; when everyone tells you that you need to bring a series amount of money, there’s nothing you can do. Everyone I spoke to wanted money and I did think my whole career was over. So to get the call to drive in China was fantastic; it was a real honour for me. Luckily I’ve kept myself fairly fit and ready just in case I got that phone call, and over the winter I’ve worked a lot harder to make I’m even stronger than I was for China.

“Ever since I was three years old when I started in go-karts, I always said to my dad that I want to win the Indy 500, Monaco Grand Prix and Le Mans 24 Hours, so even when I went down the single-seater route I still thought about Le Mans. To get that taste of a prototype has made me even hungrier to make it to Le Mans and try to achieve one of those three goals.

Despite not having raced a high-downforce racing car in two years, let alone a prototype, Dolby acquitted himself well against his more experienced team-mate Robbie Kerr, and benefitted enormously from sharing data with G-Drive stablemates Mike Conway and John Martin. Pulling a triple-stint in China with Kerr suffering from food poising helped Dolby get quickly up to speed, although the eventual results, a fourth and sixth in Bahrain – with Fabien Giroix replacing Tor Graves – doesn’t accurately reflect the crew’s true pace.

“Because you’re sharing the car you don’t get that many laps and trying to get comfortable in such a short period of time when you’ve got two other drivers as well was tough,” says Dolby.  “We were on the back-foot because we had a problem in FP1 with the car going off the track so I didn’t get to drive, and then FP2 was in the dark, which I’ve never driven in before, so we didn’t do many laps before qualifying.

“In the race we got up to second and we thought a podium was on, but unfortunately we had a problem with the battery terminal. It’s no-one’s fault, we did everything we should have done, I just wish we’d got that podium because it definitely would have been a help for 2014.”

After the crushing blow of losing the 2010 Superleague championship to Davide Rigon in the final round – he would have comfortably won the title had the Beijing street race, which he won, counted for points – Dolby has his confidence back and feels he has a score to settle.

“The day I lost the championship in Navarra plays on my mind every single day, especially to lose by two points when I led for most of the season. Looking back over the season at where two points could have come from, it does play on my mind. I’ve got unfinished business in motorsport, to win something like Le Mans or the World Endurance would put my mind at rest a little bit.”

BBC Formula One commentator Ben Edwards describes Dolby as a “natural racer”, reminiscent of 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell. Edwards watched Dolby at length during his time commentating on Superleague and was full of praise when approached by The Motorsport Journal.

BBC F1 commentator Ben Edwards spotted Dolby's talent early on.

"I believe that Craig is one of the most underrated drivers we have in the UK," Edwards said. "He reminds me a little of Nigel Mansell, in that he has a huge determination to succeed and is prepared to go for and succeed in overtaking moves that other people wouldn't consider. But he also manages to do it with a smile on his face and a positive attitude, which gets the team behind him.

"Some of his drives from the back of the reverse grid races in Superleague were simply outstanding and he was up against ex-F1 drivers and GP2 champions. He lives for racing, and I'm sure he will make an outstanding career for himself, given the right opportunities."