• Team RaceArt scores one class win and three further podiums at Spa-Francorchamps
• Strong pace for Sam Jongejan goes unrewarded
• Team leads overall, Pro-Am and teams’ standings after opening weekend

Maastricht, 13 May 2025 - Team RaceArt enjoyed a strong start to the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux season, capturing one class victory and three additional podiums at the season opener at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. As a result, the team holds the points lead in the overall, Pro-Am and teams’ standings with one out of six weekends completed.

The opening weekend in Belgium, held as part of the support bill for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, marked the first time the Maastricht-based squad entered three cars in the highly competitive Porsche single-make series. Sam Jongejan and Jules Grouwels both returned after finishing runner-up in the Rookie and Pro-Am classes, respectively last year, while Jaap van Lagen rejoined the team in a race role for the first time in 13 years.

Running at Spa was spread across three days, with the opening day of Thursday consisting of two Free Practice sessions that provided the three drivers with the opportunity to finetune their setup and sharpen up their knowledge of the circuit. Notably, large parts of the track had been resurfaced since the championship last raced at Spa. Although the team had tested on the new surface previously, the track time on offer was still a chance to gain valuable data. Jongejan ended the day fastest overall, while Grouwels led the Pro-Am class in both sessions.

The impact of the new track surface on the speed of the field became most apparent in Friday morning qualifying, where times were two seconds faster compared to last year. Jongejan and Van Lagen managed to qualify in the overall top five for both races. Grouwels completed a sweep of pole positions in Pro-Am.

Race 1 started late on Friday afternoon and produced the high-action sprint racing that has become a trademark of Carrera Cup Benelux competition. Starting from second, Van Lagen remained in firm podium contention throughout. Although briefly losing a position in the opening exchanges, he regained the position after a safety car restart and finished second. In that same late-race scramble, Jongejan’s race came to a premature end when he was pushed off track and into the barriers by another competitor at Speaker’s Corner. Although the No. 65 Porsche suffered extensive front-end damage, Jongejan walked away from the crash uninjured. In the Pro-Am category, Grouwels kicked off his season with a class victory, displaying alert driving during an incident involving two other cars at the Bus Stop chicane to recapture the class lead he had lost earlier in the race.

Following Jongejan’s crash, the RaceArt mechanics carried out extensive front-end repairs on the car that were completed at 3 am on Saturday morning. This allowed Jongejan to start from the front row, with the nose of his Porsche black and grey and not the usual green. Undeterred by the events of Friday, he again showed strong pace in an incident-packed race that was interrupted by three safety cars. After the final restart, he attempted to challenge for the lead by overtaking around the outside at Les Combes, only to be pushed wide again and drop to fourth. He finished one spot behind Van Lagen, who had started from fourth and captured a second podium from two races. In Pro-Am, Grouwels did the same and took a hard-fought third.

Thanks to his two podiums, as well as a number of guest starters not scoring points, Van Lagen leads the overall drivers’ standings after the opening weekend with 40 points. Jongejan occupies sixth place, 24 points behind. Grouwels, meanwhile, holds a one-point lead in Pro-Am, with his qualifying performance giving him a leg up over the competition. Finally, RaceArt also leads the teams’ championship after the opening round, meaning the team occupies first place in each  of the standings it is eligible for.

Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux returns to action at Zandvoort on June 6-8, where it will run on the support bill for DTM.

Driver comments:

Sam Jongejan

“A strong weekend. In terms of pace, we showed ourselves really well. Unfortunately, the outcome of the races didn’t reflect that. The results were not what they should have been. In the first race I got pushed off and was helpless and the second race was kind of the same. Unfortunately, it is what it is. However, I leave Spa with a positive feeling.  Super happy with the efforts of the team, which rebuilt the car after Friday. I am now especially looking forward to next weekend at Zandvoort.”

Jaap van Lagen

“A good first weekend with RaceArt. I was immediately in the mix during Free Practice. Qualifying didn't go quite as expected. I made some mistakes myself and could easily have started first for both races. In the races we missed some speed on the straights, which makes it difficult to keep pace and attack. We are going to work on that. Other than that, a very positive weekend. Two podiums and a championship lead - that’s a good start. Next up is Zandvoort, one of my favourite circuits and we don't really need the top speed there. We will work hard to push forward regardless of it and I think we have a better chance at other circuits than at Spa. The working relationship with the team is going well. Hard work, top job done. Everyone is positive. Sponsors were there, all happy. So all in all, pretty satisfied!”

Jules Grouwels

“Hectic races, had a lot of nice battles and ended the weekend first in Pro-Am. This weekend forms a good basis for the rest of the season. I was able to get back into a good rhythm with the duels and bumper-to-bumper driving that I had to miss for six months during the winter break. On to Zandvoort!”