After Jacques Villeneuve, the hypercar team Vanwall loses another driver in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). As the team deployed by the ByKolles team announced on Friday, Tom Dillmann will no longer drive for the racing team.
In contrast to the separation from the former Formula 1 world champion, the Frenchman’s departure is amicable, as the team and driver emphasize. “It’s important to say that I left Vanwall on good terms,” Dillmann told Motorsport.com.
“I will never speak badly of the team,” he adds. “I have a lot of respect for what they are doing. Colin [Kolles, Teamchef] gave me the chance to drive my first Le Mans and we did a lot of races together. I wish you all the best.”
At the next WEC race on July 9th in Monza, Joao Paulo de Oliveira will share the wheel of the vanwall hypercar with Esteban Guerrieri and Tristan Vautier.
“It was time to try something different”
Dillmann has been driving for ByKolles since 2018 and took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans last weekend together with Guerrieri and Villeneuve substitute Vautier. There, the team retired after major engine failure.
The 34-year-old Dillmann says about the reason for the end of the long-term cooperation: “I had the feeling that it was time to try something different. Of course it’s a risk because I don’t have anything else at the moment, but I had it Feeling like I have to try and get a place somewhere else.”
“I just had the feeling that I owed it to myself to get out of my comfort zone and try to get a chance where I can fight for better results in the short term,” Dillmann is aiming for a more promising perspective in sport.