#EuroNascar – TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP PROFILE: HENDRIKS MOTORSPORT

Hendriks Motorsport has been the unbeatable team of the past three years of pure NASCAR Whelen Euro Series racing. The Dutch powerhouse lead by Roy and Joep Hendriks has clinched its third team championship win in a row – the first with the #7 Ford Mustang. EuroNASCAR PRO Champion Loris Hezemans and EuroNASCAR 2 Champion Martin Doubek collected the most points across both championships in the 2021 NWES season and thus brought the title back to the Netherlands. For the first time since 2014, the same organization won all three major titles in the European NASCAR series.

Roy and Joep Hendriks are experienced race car drivers on their own with roots deep in oval racing in their home country and created the team to provide drivers a strong foundation for their careers. Hendriks Motorsport joined the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2018 with the backing of Toine Hezemans and his son Loris on the #50 Ford Mustang. In their debut season, the team and Hezemans won the EuroNASCAR PRO Junior Trophy and grabbed the first race win at the Hockenheimring, Germany.

From that moment on it was clear that a new championship contender had entered the official European NASCAR Series. Just one year later in 2019, Hendriks Motorsport got to the top of the EuroNASCAR PRO drivers standings with Hezemans clinching the title and becoming the youngest NWES Champion in history. With Giorgio Maggi from the Switzerland in the cockpit in EuroNASCAR 2, the #50 car topped the Teams Championship for the first time in the organisation’s history.

In a pandemic shortened 2020 NWES season, Hezemans was again among the title contenders but the Dutchman, who shared the car with EuroNASCAR 2 rookie Tobias Dauenhuaer, was beaten by Alon Day. In EuroNASCAR 2, two Hendriks Motorsport drivers battled for the title: Dauenhauer and Vittorio Ghirelli. The latter grabbed the title in the very last race of the season but it was the #50 outfit that clinched a second consecutive title with Hezemans and Dauenhauer. The #18 Hendriks Motorsport team ended up second in the team championship rounding out a strong 1-2 finish for the Dutch powerhouse.

Hezemans and Hendriks Motorsport were keen to strike back in the 2021 season and they did it in a dominant fashion. The Dutchman switched cars to drive the #7 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang for the first time, sharing it with NWES veteran Doubek, who competed in the EuroNASCAR 2 Championship. 2021 started with a new milestone: Hezemans and Doubek won all 4 races at Circuit Ricardo Tormo which was the first time in EuroNASCAR history that a team parked the same car in Victory Lane after all races of an event.

Doubek and Hezemans kept on winning over the course of the season, but the championship battles remained extremely tight. With a 13-point deficit from his teammate Dauenhauer, Doubek was the first driver to grab the championship win in a thrilling finale at Autodromo di Vallelunga, Italy. While Dauenhauer crashed into the barriers, the Czech won the race and clinched his maiden EuroNASCAR 2 title. Hezemans took no risks and finished fifth in the last race of the season to become the youngest two-time EuroNASCAR PRO champion.

With 2 titles in the hands of the #7 Hendriks Motorsport team, it was no surprise that the Dutch powerhouse scored its third consecutive team championship win – this time with the #7 Mustang. After three years, the team placed 2 cars onto the top of the standings – the #50 and #7 – and it was always Hezemans in charge of the car in the EuroNASCAR PRO Championship. Hendriks Motorsport beat the #22 DF1 Racing Chevrolet Camaro driven by Nicolo Rocca and Justin Kunz by 94 points, while the #50 Hendriks Motorsport team followed in third 102 points shy of the sister car.

Due to Hezemans’ move to the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series with the new Team Hezeberg in 2022, Hendriks Motorsport will face a new challenge next year. Will they be able to turn the tris into a poker of titles?