Dutchman Peter Hoevenaars gives Belgium Racing its first title
Youth commits sporting coup d'état
The third season of the Porsche Challenge Benelux was good due to some major changes. For example, the brand new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 991 entered the championship, while the format of the competitions now really went full steam ahead, completely in line with the Porsche competitions worldwide. From now on, two 30-minute races per weekend formed the framework for the fastest brand cup in the Benelux. In sports, it was the youth who came to the front. The 20-year-old Dutchman Peter Hoevenaars won the title, ahead of his 19-year-old compatriot Max van Splunteren and the 23-year-old Belgian Dylan Derdaele. After two experienced veterans, Jeffrey van Hooydonk and Xavier Maassen, a first generation change took place in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Benelux. Hoevenaars was certainly not the last young promise to win the coveted title.
On the menu of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Benelux were six meetings of two races, with of course, as always, the kick-off during the visit of the World Endurance Championship or FIA WEC to the Belgian Ardennes on the circuit of Spa-Francorchamps. What followed were two meetings at the Belgian Circuit Zolder, a trip to the north of the Netherlands, more specifically Assen and finally two consecutive race weekends at the North Sea, of course at Circuit Zandvoort.
Peter Hoevenaars had already put his nose in the window in 2014, with one victory, but 2015 really became the season of the youngster in the colors of Belgium Racing. With the new format, there were now twelve sprint races on the menu and Hoevenaars crossed the line no fewer than seven times, including three times in the last four races. He was barely on the podium once and his title was more than deserved. Max van Splunteren (GT3.nl by Land Motorsport) has long been his closest rival, with four victories, while reigning champion Xavier Maassen (Thems racing by DVB RACING) won once, but it has to be said that the Limburger did not win all of the 2015 season races. In the final standings, Dylan Derdaele (Belgium Racing), was third behind Hoevenaars and van Splunteren. After three seasons, both Max van Splunteren and Xavier Maassen managed to win at least one race in each season.
New format and new car
The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – Type 991 first appeared in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Benelux in 2015 and would continue to do so until the 2020 corona year competition. Porsche Sprint Challenge Benelux and the Porsche Endurance Trophy Benelux, which immediately proves the reliability of the German product. The second change, which concerned the format, only had a minor intervention at the start of the 2022 season, because from then on the format was not thirty minutes, but thirty minutes and one round.
