● Team RaceArt victorious in rain-hit Zandvoort weekend

● Sam Jongejan breaks through and takes maiden victory with stunning wet weather drive

● Jules Grouwels scores maximum points in push towards Pro-Am title

Maastricht, 10 June 2025 - Team RaceArt celebrated a landmark 1-2 finish during a wet and tightly contested Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux weekend at Zandvoort, with Sam Jongejan taking a breakthrough maiden overall victory in the championship. The team also further extended its lead in both the Pro-Am and teams standings, thanks in no small part to a strong performance from Jules Grouwels.

Circuit Zandvoort has traditionally always posted a significant challenge for teams and drivers due to its fast, undulating and unforgiving nature. For the second round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux season, however, Mother Nature decided to throw in an additional factor with the near-constant presence of rain.

Despite that, the team arrived at the seaside circuit in good spirits, holding the championship in all three of the standings it competes in after a fortuitous opening weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. After a productive pair of Free Practice sessions on Friday, Saturday morning qualifying brought further confirmation of the team’s strong pace with good results for all three drivers. Jongejan captured a spot on the front row for both races, with Jaap van Lagen only one spot behind in third. Grouwels, meanwhile, took second place in Pro-Am for both races.

The first race of the weekend on Saturday afternoon started well, with Jongejan immediately challenging pole sitter Niels Langeveld for the race lead while Van Lagen slotting into third behind him. However, both drivers came under pressure and would later be passed by Robin Knutsson, dropping back to third and fourth, respectively.

They battled for the final podium spot when Van Lagen locked up into the Hans Ernst Bocht, with the subsequent trip through the gravel dropping him back to fifth place. Jongejan held on to third, picking up his first podium of the season. In the Pro-Am ranks, Grouwels drove a clean race amidst a tight midfield pack to finish second in class. However, as class winner Niels Troost was unable to score points as a guest driver, the RaceArt driver picked up the maximum points haul and extended his lead in the championship.

While Race 1 took place under largely dry conditions, the rain returned with a vengeance for the second and final race on Sunday morning. With Jongejan and Van Lagen in second and third respectively, the race commenced behind the safety car, leading to a rare rolling start.

Once racing got underway, Jongejan wasted little time applying pressure to early leader Langeveld, searching for an opportunity to strike with Van Lagen in tow. The veteran overcame a scare when the wet conditions caused him to slide off the track at the Kumhobocht, although he managed to recover without losing places and slotted back in behind Jongejan when incidents further down the field triggered a safety car with 14 minutes remaining.

After the restart, Jongejan immediately resumed his push for the race lead. This time, however, he got the better of Langeveld with an audacious overtake up the inside at Turn 10, wrestling his way past the race leader and taking first place. Van Lagen then did not need a second invitation when Langeveld ran off the circuit attempting to take first back at the Hans Ernst Bocht, moving into second behind Jongejan.

As the remaining minutes ticked down, Jongejan and Van Lagen ran in formation and brought home a hard-fought, 1-2 finish for the Maastricht squad. For Jongejan, it was an emotional breakthrough win in only his second full season in the championship. Last year, he picked up four class victories in the Rookie class, but this marked the first time he took an outright win in the highly competitive one-make series. Van Lagen, meanwhile, returned to the podium after Saturday’s near miss and recorded his third top-three result of the season.

In the Pro-Am category, Grouwels continued his strong run of form with what could be considered his strongest race in the championship to date. Under challenging conditions, he ran a faultless race and displayed tremendous speed to steadily climb up the overall order while several cars around him spun off the track. As a result, he crossed the line a terrific eighth overall and took a second class victory of the season.

RaceArt’s strong performance at Zandvoort led it to extend its leading margin in the battle for the teams’ championship. The team is now on 128 points, 30 points clear of its nearest challenger. Grouwels has extended his lead in the Pro-Am standings to twelve points. In the battle for the overall standings, Van Lagen has dropped to second place but is only four points off the lead. Jongejan’s strong weekend has allowed him to jump up from sixth to fourth on the points table.

Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux is set to return to action next month at an entirely new venue for the team, competing at the Hungaroring as a support act for the International GT Open on July 4-6.

Driver comments:

Sam Jongejan

“This was a fantastic weekend with a dream ending. Zandvoort has never been my strongest circuit, but we appeared to be immediately competitive from early phases of the weekend. Qualifying was very encouraging, but also showed there’s still room to improve should we encounter a wet session in the future. During the first race, a problem cost us pace, which made things difficult. Thankfully I was able to

bring home third place. Then on Sunday, started off steadily in difficult conditions, kept my head cool and was able to capture first place and take my first win. That was a dream come true!”

Jaap van Lagen

“All in all, a great weekend for the whole team, with plenty of points and podiums. We also still lead the teams’ standings, which is great. On a personal note I unfortunately lost the lead in the drivers’ standings to Knutsson, who scored just a bit better on average across the whole weekend. On the one hand I am satisfied, but on the other hand I can see I’m still missing something in terms of pace. Especially in dry conditions it’s a bit of a struggle. There is room to improve there. We know what the issue is and we’re going to do everything we can to fix that. Fortunately, I was still able to grab a podium in the rain. Next up is the Hungaroring. I've already driven a lot on that track, while the competition has little to no experience there. It’s important to use that to my advantage and make sure the car is fast enough. After all, at the end of the day the goal is to win races and try and win the championship.”

Jules Grouwels

“Nice to see that the rain dance I did paid off. Sunday was clearly the highlight of the weekend. I drove a strong race with good pace. I also just about managed to stay out of trouble. Bring on Hungary, which hopefully will be just as wet.”