Indy Dontje (born 21 November 1992 in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

) is a Dutch racing driver. After starting in

ADAC Formel Masters ADAC Formel Masters was an ADAC sanctioned open wheel racing series based in Germany, held annually from 2008 to 2014. It was replacement of the local Formula BMW championship. The first season was in 2008 and is the main feeder series to the ATS F ...

and

ATS Formel 3 Cup The German Formula Three Championship was the national Formula Three championship of Germany, and the former West Germany, from 1950 to 2002, then as Formel 3 until 2014. In 2003, the series had merged with the French Formula Three Championship to ...

Dontje is now a Mercedes-Benz GT3 driver.

Career

Karting

Father Arthur Dontje supported his sons Indy and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

with their own karting team early in their careers. Arthurs chocolate company, Dobla, was the naming sponsor. Indy started racing in

Rotax Max The Rotax Max 125 Engine is a two-stroke engine designed by Rotax, part of Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), to provide cost-effective but high speed kart racing. Built in Austria, the engine is liquid cooled, equipped with a balance shaft ...

powered classes, such as MiniMax and Junior Max. After graduating into shifter karts, Dontje raced in the

German Karting Championship The German Kart Championship is a kart racing series based in Germany, event ruled and organized by the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund. The series is held annually on the most modern and largest outdoor karting tracks in Germany Germany,, ...

in 2009 against other young hopefuls such as

Jack Hawksworth Jack W. Hawksworth (born 28 February 1991) is a British professional racing driver from Bradford, West Yorkshire. , he competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for AIM Vasser Sullivan. He has also raced in the Star Mazda Championsh ...

and

Hannes van Asseldonk Hannes van Asseldonk (born 10 January 1992) is a Dutch racing driver, currently driving in the British Formula 3 Championship for Fortec Motorsports. Career Karting and junior formulae Born in Boekel, Netherlands as the only son of five childre ...

. Later in his karting career, in 2010 and 2011, the young karter competed in the USA in the SKUSA SuperNationals. In 2010 Dontje finished third in the S1 class. The following year Dontje finished second in a factory supported Energy Corse kart.

Single seaters

Dontje made his single-seater debut in 2012 at age 19. Racing in the

Dontje joined Team Motopark, part of the

Lotus F1 Lotus F1 Team was a British Formula One racing team. The team competed under the Lotus name from until , following the renaming of the former Renault team based at Enstone in Oxfordshire. The Lotus F1 Team was majority owned by Genii Capital. ...

junior program. During the season Dontje scored one podium finish, a third place at the Sachsenring. For 2013 Dontje remained at Team Motopark. He won the third race of the season, at

Motorsport Arena Oschersleben The Motorsport Arena Oschersleben is a long race track with a width of and elevation changes of . The circuit is located in Oschersleben, Börde where is approximately from Magdeburg), Germany. Its fairly flat contours create a smooth, fast ci ...

. The Dutchman won a second race at the

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from to . It was later sh ...

. Dontje was the only driver to score points every single race during the season. This placed the Dutchman sixth in the series standings. For 2014 Dontje remained at the Lotus backed Team Motopark to race in the

. With the German F3 championship running older machinery compared to the European F3, the German championship struggled to attract many drivers with many races being run with less than ten drivers. Dontje scored fourteen podium finishes, with a single victory, out of 23 races. Dontje won the second race during the

weekend. The Dutchman also competed in the

2014 Zandvoort Masters The 2014 Zandvoort Masters was the 24th edition of the Masters of Formula 3 event, a non-championship race for cars that conform to Formula Three regulations. The event was held on 6 July 2014 at Circuit Park Zandvoort, in Zandvoort, North Holland ...

. Dontje challenged

Nabil Jeffri Muhammad Nabil Jan Al bin Jeffri (born 24 October 1993, in Kuala Lumpur) is a Malaysian racing driver. Career Jeffri began his career in karting winning the Asian and Malaysian Rotax Max Junior titles in 2009. He stepped up to Formula BMW Pac ...

for third but had to settle for fourth place, scoring the fastest racelap in the progress.

GT racing

In 2015

Rowe Racing ROWE Racing is the motor racing team of the German lubricant A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces ...

named Dontje as one of their drivers for the

2015 Blancpain Endurance Series The 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series season was the fifth season of the Blancpain Endurance Series. The season started on 12 April at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza and ended on 20 September at the Nürburgring. The season featured five rounds, w ...

. After the opening three races, Dontje switched to the GT Russian Team for the

2015 24 Hours of Spa The 2015 Total Spa 24 Hours was the 67th running of the Spa 24 Hours. It was also the fourth round of the 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series season and was held on 25 and 26 July at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. The race was won by Mar ...

and remained at the team for the season final. With Rowe Racing switching to BMW, Dontje remained in the AMG Customer Sports program with

HTP Motorsport HTP Winward Motorsport also known as Team Mann-Filter, HTP Motorsport and Winward Racing is a German-American-based auto racing team. The team mainly competes in GT3 based series such as the GT World Challenge Europe. The team was founded after H ...

for 2016. Dontje ran the full

2016 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup The 2016 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup was the sixth season of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. The season started on 24 April at Monza and ended on 18 September at the Nürburgring. The season featured five rounds, with each race lasting ...

with teammates

Luciano Bacheta Akshay Luciano Bacheta (born 26 April 1990 in Romford, England) is a British professional racecar driver, born to Indian parents with Italian ancestry. Career Bacheta started karting at the age of fourteen in 2004 and stepped up to cars in 200 ...

and Clemens Schmid. The teams best finish was a fifth place at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

. He also made his debut in the

24 Hours of Nürburgring 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

racing with fellow Mercedes-AMG team

Black Falcon The black falcon (''Falco subniger'') is a medium-large falcon that is endemic to Australia. It can be found in all mainland states and territories and yet is regarded as Australia's most under-studied falcon.Debus, S.J.S. & Olsen, J. (2011). So ...

. The team retired after 57 laps. For 2017 Dontje switched from the Blancpain Endurance Series to the

ADAC GT Masters The ADAC GT Masters is a grand tourer-based auto racing series founded by the international Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and supported by the German ADAC automotive club. Similar to an earlier ADAC GT Cup series in the 1990s, the new GT ...

. With the

Mercedes-AMG GT The Mercedes-AMG GT (C190 / R190) is a grand tourer produced in coupé and roadster bodystyles by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-AMG. The car was introduced on and was officially unveiled to the public in October 2014 at the Paris Mo ...

Dontje scored two podium finishes, at

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

and the

Sachsenring The Sachsenring () is a motorsport racing circuit located in Hohenstein-Ernstthal near Chemnitz in Saxony, Germany. Among other events, it features the annual German motorcycle Grand Prix of the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship ...

, to place thirteenth in the series championship.

Results

Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

Complete Blancpain Endurance Series results

Complete ADAC GT Masters results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dontje, Indy 1992 births Dutch racing drivers Sportspeople from Alkmaar British Formula Three Championship drivers ADAC Formel Masters drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers Living people International GT Open drivers 24H Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers Motopark Academy drivers Rowe Racing drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers R-ace GP drivers ART Grand Prix drivers Phoenix Racing drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers