●        Jaap van Lagen finishes second in overall drivers’ standings

●        Joep Breedveld’s title hopes dashed after contact from rival

●        Team secures runner-up spot in team standings 

Maastricht, 20 October 2026 – Team RaceArt and Jaap van Lagen (NED) are the 2026 vice-champions in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux. During the final weekend at Circuit Zolder, two podium finishes secured second place in the overall standings, whilst Joep Breedveld (NED) finished second in the Rookie Championship following an unfortunate retirement on Saturday.

The finale of the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux season was a home race for the Maastricht-based squad, with its headquarters located just over half an hour from Circuit Zolder. Coming into the final weekend, plenty was still at stake: an Lagen was still in with a chance of a second consecutive title, whilst Joep Breedveld was still in contention for the rookie title. The battle for the team championship was also still wide open.

In qualifying, Van Lagen secured a place on the second row of the grid for both races by finishing third on both occasions. Breedveld also had a strong qualifying session, taking second on the grid in the Rookie class on both occasions. Arthur Peters (BEL) finished seventh and fourth in the Rookies class respectively.

The opening race of the weekend was marred by drama right from the first corner. Whilst Van Lagen immediately secured second place, Breedveld was forced out of the race early on. After being pushed from behind by a title rival, he was unable to avoid a collision with the car in front of him. Due to the damage sustained, he was forced to pull the car over to the side of the track. This also dealt a serious blow to his chances of winning the Rookie title.

At the front of the field, Van Lagen remained a contender for victory throughout the race, but was unable to take the lead. In the final corner, he ended up in the gravel following an overtaking manoeuvre by a rival, but managed to hang on to second place. Peters eventually finished sixth in the Rookie category.

Having already finished second on Saturday, Van Lagen repeated the feat in the season’s final race on Sunday. This saw him finish second in the overall standings after a strong season featuring four victories. Breedveld, for his part, bounced back strongly from his retirement by finishing third, thereby securing the runners-up spot in the Rookie class. Peters had an unfortunate end to his season: he was in contention for a spot on the Rookie podium and was engaged in an entertaining, multi-car battle when he was spun out.

Following a strong season, the team remained in contention for the team championship right up to the very end, ultimately finishing second in the standings.

“What do you do if you can’t come first? Just make sure you come second,” reflects team manager Marwin Moonen. “We didn’t manage to clinch the championships this season. For the overall championship, we unfortunately had too many retirements to tip the balance in Jaap’s favour. All credit to Milan Marczak. He had a very strong season and was dominant at Zolder. A well-deserved champion. In the Rookie class, Joep’s strong qualifying performance certainly gave us a shot at clinching the title, but a reckless move by a title contender completely ruined those chances. It’s a real shame to end the season like that. Finally, the team championship – we knew right from the start of the season that retaining it could prove very difficult. However, we managed to stay in the running throughout the season and ultimately fell just a few points short. I am therefore extremely proud of our entire team, and next season we’ll be going for it again with everything we’ve got!”

Announcements regarding plans for the 2027 season will follow at a later date.

Drivers’ comments:

Jaap van Lagen: “Vice-champion in Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux. A great result. On Saturday, I needed to finish ahead of Milan Marczak to keep the championship alive for Sunday, but I couldn’t manage that. But I have to admit, to be honest: Milan was definitely the strongest this weekend. Congratulations to him. My second place in the standings was also secured on Saturday because Reimann retired. I’d obviously been hoping for the championship, but due to the retirements at Imola and Hockenheim, my chances were effectively already gone. So I wasn’t expecting too much from Zolder, but the fact that I’ve been able to finish the season with two second-place finishes is fantastic for the team and for me personally. I’ve had a great season. Nine podium finishes, four wins and one sixth place. We had an electronic problem with the throttle three times. That cost me a lot of points too. All in all, I’m satisfied with the final result. Kudos to the whole team. They’ve done a great job, but this year we simply had too much bad luck compared to last year, which is why we finished second. I’d love to compete in the championship again next year with RaceArt. But we’ll have to wait and see.”

Joep Breedveld: “I think we put in a really strong performance ourselves last weekend, but bad luck also played a part. Things didn’t go to plan on Friday, but we started afresh on Saturday, cleared our heads and put in a really strong qualifying session. After that, it turned into a bit of a dark day. I got off to a good start, but my championship rival pushed me from behind and caused a collision that resulted in a DNF. I don’t really have the words for that. It was really bitter. On Sunday, I didn’t really have the pace I wanted, and I could also feel that the car was having some brake issues. That was a real shame. In the end, I finished as runner-up in the Rookie championship. If we hadn’t retired on Saturday, things would have looked very different. But there’s nothing we can do about that now. I’d like to thank RaceArt for the whole year, for their support and professionalism. They’re just a lovely bunch of people. We’ve simply put in a brilliant team performance. RaceArt has given it their all this year. Neither the team nor the drivers are to blame. It just slipped through our fingers.”

Arthur Peters: “The field was incredibly close this weekend. Race 1 was okay. I made up a few places at the start, but lost them again due to a small mistake. We did have the pace to keep up, but not to overtake. Zolder is a circuit where it’s difficult to overtake, and we didn’t have the pace for that. Race 2 was disappointing. We had a minor collision on the first lap, which cost me a few places, but this time the pace was good. I managed to close the gap, but just as I was about to overtake someone, I got hit on the rear right and spun. As a result, I finished last. That’s obviously not how we wanted to end the weekend or the season, but it is what it is. I look back on a wonderful season, in which I’ve learnt a lot. There were big highs and big lows, but overall it was a brilliant season. It was a fantastic collaboration with RaceArt and with my engineer, Ward. I’m ready to take the next step.”