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Mike Hezemans (born 25 July 1969, in Eindhoven) is a professional racecar driver from the 
In 1995, while competing in international racing, Mike returned to his first love of karting by opening Hezemans Indoor Karting in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The dual-level tracks has been a success for decades and was updated to solar powered electric karts in 2018. A year earlier, Mike had opened R1 Indoor Karting in Lincoln, RI, USA, also with exclusively electric karts. The successful venue includes a restaurant and bowling alleys, and was expanded with the Axe Bar (
Mike Hezemans (born 25 July 1969, in Eindhoven) is a professional racecar driver from the Netherlands
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. Mike is the son of Toine Hezemans
Antoine Emile "Toine" Hezemans (born 15 April 1943, in Eindhoven) is a Dutch former touring and prototype racing car driver in 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from racing, Hezemans spent some time as a manager of Phoenix Carsport team. One of the ...
and brother of Loris Hezemans
Loris Hezemans (born 26 May 1997) is a Dutch professional racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 27 Ford Mustang for Team Hezeberg and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driving the No. 33 Toyo ...
. Mike started in karting in 1981, and won the Dutch National Championship in 1984. In 1989 he finished 2nd in the European Championship Formula A and 3rd in the World Championship Formula A.
In 1990 Hezemans started racing cars. He entered the Dutch Touring Car Championship, the premier racing series of The Netherlands. He won the fourth race that he competed in and added 2 more victories later that year. in 1991 he moved to the Porsche Supercup
The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007) is an international one-make sports car racing series supporting the FIA Formula One World Championship organized by Porsche ...
and ADAC GT Cup. In 1994 Mike entered the BPR Global GT Series The BPR Global GT Series (sometimes referred to as the BPR Global GT Endurance Series or simply abbreviated as BPR.) was a grand tourer-based sports car racing series which ran from 1994 to 1996 before becoming the FIA GT Championship in 1997. The ...
which ran through 1996. In 1997 this series was replaced by the prestigious FIA GT Championship
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...
. This series would later become an official FIA World Championship. Mike was the most successful Dutch driver in this series with 14 victories. He finished second in the championship four times, in 2000, 2001, 2008, and 2009. Mike also finished third overall in 2007 driving a Corvette C6.R for Carsport Holland, a team that was largely run by Mike and his father Toine. That same year Mike also won the 24 hours of Spa
The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies.
History
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their a ...
in the Carsport Corvette. He won this legendary endurance race again in 2009. Outside of GT1 Mike teamed up with Anthony Kumpen
Anthony Kumpen (born 3 November 1978) is a Belgian professional racing driver and team manager. Kumpen currently works as the team manager for PK Carsport in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. He previously competed full-time in the NASCAR Whelen Euro ...
to win the 24 hours of Zolder
The 24 Hours of Zolder (24 uur van Zolder in Dutch) is a yearly sports car and touring car endurance race held at Circuit Zolder in Belgium.
The race was initially held in 1983, and has run every year except for 1988. In 1989 a GT car won for th ...
in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Mike holds the record for the most pole positions in GT1, with 12 fastest qualifying laps.
In 1995, while competing in international racing, Mike returned to his first love of karting by opening Hezemans Indoor Karting in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The dual-level tracks has been a success for decades and was updated to solar powered electric karts in 2018. A year earlier, Mike had opened R1 Indoor Karting in Lincoln, RI, USA, also with exclusively electric karts. The successful venue includes a restaurant and bowling alleys, and was expanded with the Axe Bar (axe throwing
The modern sport of axe throwing involves a competitor throwing an axe at a target, attempting to hit the bullseye as near as possible. Axe throwing has historically been an event in lumberjack competitions. As of the fall of 2020 there are comme ...
) in 2019 plus an arcade and a family entertainment center in 2020.
All during his exploits in racing, Mike has built a successful real estate business with properties in Miami and the Netherlands. He has two daughters, Leva and Fay and lives Miami Beach, FL, USA.
Racing record
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Partial GT World Championship results
References
1969 births Living people Dutch racing drivers FIA GT Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Sportspeople from Eindhoven American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA GT1 World Championship drivers Porsche Supercup drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers {{Netherlands-autoracing-bio-stub Phoenix Racing drivers