Jamie Colin Bönighausen (Bas Koeten Racing) and Kobe Pauwels (D'Ieteren Luxury Performance) take the victories in the Rookie championship
Jules Grouwels (Team RaceArt) and Niels Troost (GP Elite) prove to be the fastest in PRO-AM
Circuit Zandvoort, June 9, 2024. Just like in Spa-Francorchamps, Dutch driver Dirk Schouten and the Belgian Benjamin Paque share the overall victories in the Dutch North Sea dunes. Yet, we had a completely different weekend than in the Belgian Ardennes. Not only did we see the successful debut of the Finnish rally legend Kalle Rovanperä (RedAnt Racing), who just missed out on scoring a podium on his debut, Niels Langeveld (Q1 Trackracing) also made a mark with his first pole position and podium of the season. In the battle for the title, Dirk Schouten is doing well in terms of speed and consistency, while Benjamin Paque and Paul Meijer (Hans Weijs Motorsport) are also emerging as title candidates.
The qualifying session of the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux was completed in Zandvoort on Saturday morning, with a pole position for Saturday's race for home driver Niels Langeveld, and on Sunday another Dutchman in the colours of Q1 Trackracing would start at the front, namely the leader in the championship, Dirk Schouten. The debut of two-time WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä was also highly anticipated, and he showed his skills, as he ended the qualifying session in fourth and sixth place.
“The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – Type 992 – is a wonderful car to drive and I am happy that I can start my track experience here in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux,” said the young Finn after the battle against the chrono. “I will have to learn how to race in a peloton, both offensively and defensively.”
Q1 Trackracing takes the double, Rovanperä entertains fans
The start of the first race was somewhat chaotic. Domas Raudonis (GP Elite), Nick Ho (PG Motorsport), Niels Troost (GP Elite) and Thomas Kangro (Porsche Estonia) experienced the safety of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – Type 992 – first hand, as it remains a standard in racing.
At the restart, Dirk Schouten was unbeatable, and he drove to a second victory of the season, despite the insistence of teammate Niels Langeveld. Behind the top two, Robin Knutsson (NGT Racing) drove to a third consecutive podium finish. The Swede was under pressure from Kalle Rovanperä up until the last meter, who was one tenth of a second shy of his first podium. Paul Meijer (HWM) again took the necessary points and finished fifth.
“I am extremely happy with this second victory in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux this season,” winner Schouten beamed after the race. “I already realize that regularity will be a key factor in the battle for the title, even though we are only two weekends under way. Thank you to all the partners and the team for the fantastic conditions in which I can race.”
Jamie Colin Bönighausen was the best Rookie, ahead of Kobe Pauwels and Sam Jongejan (Team RaceArt), while Jules Grouwels (Team RaceArt) was the best in Pro-Am, ahead of Jani Käkelä (39 Racing) and Ralph Poppelaars (Hans Weijs Motorsport).
Paque takes revenge
Admittedly, things weren't going well for the Liège resident, but Benjamin Paque remained calm under pressure and took the second race at Circuit Zandvoort to his advantage after a perfect start. He beat Dirk Schouten and the utmost consistent Paul Meijer.
“We knew that the first race, with the penalty from Spa, would be more difficult, but we still picked up some points and won here and that is important,” said Paque.
Behind the podium places, Sacha Norden (JW Raceservice) raced to a very nice fourth place, Norden who also has a great start of the season. Kalle Rovanperä crossed the line in fifth place this time, with the young wolves of the Rookie classification behind him, where Kobe Pauwels took over Jamie Colin Bönighausen and Sam Jongejan.
Niels Troost also took revenge for Saturday's bad luck and won in PRO-AM, ahead of Jules Grouwels and Jani Käkelä.
In the overall championship, Schouten now leads Paque and Meijer, while Pauwels and Grouwels lead the rankings in the Rookies and in PRO-AM respectively.
The next round is taking place on July 6th and 7th at the legendary Imola circuit in Italy.