Neil Verhagen (born February 18, 2001) is a racing driver from the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. Verhagen is the youngest to win the

SCCA National Championship Runoffs The SCCA National Championship Runoffs is the end-of-year championship race meeting for Sports Car Club of America Club Racing competitors. Divisional champions and other top drivers from the SCCA's 116 regions are invited to participate at the ...

, having accomplished this in the Formula F category.

Early career

Karting

Neil started indoor karting along with his brother Alex. The duo trained and raced at the Grand Prix New York facilities in Mount Kisco, New York, under the instruction of racing driver

Stevan McAleer Stevan Gordon McAleer (born 28 August 1984) is a British racing driver who competes for Team Korthoff Motorsports in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Career Early Career McAleer was introduced to motorsports at the age of 10, visiting a karting ...

. McAleer raced many classes and won the 2015 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in the ST class. After racing at the Oakland Valley Race Park club scene, Verhagen joined the WKA and various

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 ...

racing series. In 2012 the young driver finished second in the Florida Winter Tour Minimax series. Verhagen beat many hopefuls such as Logan Sargeant,

Patricio O'Ward Patricio "Pato" O'Ward Junco (born 6 May 1999) is a Mexican professional auto racing driver who competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. He is the 2018 Indy Lights champion. Early life and care ...

and

Trenton Estep Trenton Estep (born November 24, 1999) is an American professional racing driver. Estep grew up racing karts from the age of 4 years old in New Braunfels, Texas. He competed in various karting competitions such as SKUSA Pro Tour, Florida Winter T ...

. To increase their sons chances at a successful racing career, the Verhagen family moved form

Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 25,033 at the 2020 census. The town center, which was formerly a borough ...

, to

Mooresville, North Carolina Mooresville is a large town located in the southwestern section of Iredell County, North Carolina, United States, and is a part of the fast-growing Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 50,193 at the 2020 United States Census making it ...

, in 2014. The family exchanged the WKA scene for the United States Pro Kart Series.

Lower formulae

Verhagen made his auto racing debut at

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

in the Skip Barber Winter Series. The young driver won the first three races of the championship at Road Atlanta and Sebring International Raceway. Verhagen, racing a

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

powered

Reynard Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, a ...

chassis, finished second in the championship. Later in 2015 Verhagen debuted in the F1600 Championship Series. At the

Pittsburgh International Race Complex Pittsburgh International Race Complex (commonly known as Pitt Race) is an auto racing road course located in Wampum, Pennsylvania. Pitt Race hosts amateur and professional automobile, motorcycle, and karting events. The track Pittsburgh Inte ...

Verhagen competed in a

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

. At the

F2000 Championship Series The F2000 Championship Series is a North American–based open wheel road racing series based on Formula Continental, a wings and slicks series that is designed to be the second step after Formula F 1600. The series utilizes the 2.0L powerplan ...

finale at Pittsburgh Verhagen finished tenth in a RFR F2000. For 2016 Verhagen joined K-Hill Motorsports in the F1600 Championship Series. The young driver won the championship beating teammate Peter Portante both racing

Mygale Mygale Racing Car Constructor (Mygale SARL) is a French racing car manufacturer that specialises in the production of single seater chassis for use in formula racing. It is most notable for its Formula Ford chassis. Mygale also produces the chas ...

SJ11 chassis. Verhagen also competed in the

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional ...

club racing scene. Winning the SCCA Majors Tour Northeast Conference Verhagen qualified for the

. Verhagen went on to become the youngest driver to win the Runoffs at 15 years and 242 days. Winning the Runoffs, Verhagen qualified for the

2016 Mazda Road to Indy Shootout The 2016 Mazda Road to Indy Shootout was the first edition of the Road to Indy Shootout. The event was held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on December 6 and 7. The winner received a $200,000 scholarship to compete in the 2017 U.S. F2000 National Cham ...

Formula Renault

In 2017, Verhagen was inducted into the

Red Bull Junior Team The Red Bull Junior Team is a driver development program run by the energy drink company Red Bull GmbH in an attempt to identify potential future racing stars in open wheel racing. The similar Red Bull Driver Search, now ended, was an American ...

and moved up to the

Formula Renault Eurocup Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault ...

with

MP Motorsport MP Motorsport (previously Marcel Peters Motorsport) is a Dutch auto racing team currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. The team has also participated in Auto GP, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern Europea ...

, alongside fellow Red Bull Junior

Richard Verschoor Richard Verschoor (born 16 December 2000) is a Dutch racing driver set to compete for Van Amersfoort Racing in the Formula 2 Championship. Verschoor graduated to Formula 2 in 2021 with MP Motorsport before switching to Charouz Racing System, aft ...

. He had one podium at

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone w ...

and finished the season eleventh, behind his Dutch teammate. The following year, Verhagen returned to the Eurocup with

Tech 1 Racing Tech 1 Racing is a racing team based in Toulouse, France. They currently compete in the World Series by Renault and Eurocup Mégane Trophy. Tech 1 also operate the Panis Racing LMP2 entry to the European Le Mans Series and the Ultimate LMP2 Pro ...

, where he finished the championship eleventh.

BRDC British F3

In 2019, Verhagen lost his backing from Red Bull and moved to the

BRDC British Formula 3 Championship The GB3 Championship is a single seater motorsport series based in the United Kingdom. The championship is the UK's premier single-seater category, and is aimed at young racing drivers moving up from FIA Formula 4 championships or Karting. Ha ...

with

Double R Racing Double R Racing is a motor racing team, which races in Formula Three and other junior levels of formula racing including the MSA Formula Championship for the 2016 season. The team was formed in November 2004 as Räikkönen Robertson Racing by th ...

. He ended the season fifth overall, having taken seven podiums throughout the campaign.

Sportscar career

2020: Victorious GT debut

Verhagen moved to

sportscar racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

in 2020, driving for Walkenhorst Motorsport as part of the BMW Junior Team in two rounds of the

Nürburgring Endurance Series The Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS, German: ''Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie'') is an organisation of motorsport clubs of which each hosts one event of a nine-race series held on the Nürburgring, Nürburgring Nordschleife. Participants ...

. This included 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 ...

, which the American won in the SP8T category driving a BMW M4 GT4.

2021: Nürburgring Endurance success

For the 2021 season, Verhagen stepped up to the SP9 Pro class to partner Daniel Harper and Max Hesse in a full-time campaign of the

, where the trio would compete in a

BMW M6 GT3 The BMW M6 is a high-performance version of the 6 Series marketed under the BMW M sub-brand from 1983 to 2018 (with a break from 1990 to 2004). Introduced in the coupe body style, the M6 was also built in convertible and fastback sedan ('Gran C ...

car. Verhagen ended up second in the standings, having taken two victories.

2022: GT World Challenge

The

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by Stéphane Ratel Org ...

would be Verhagen's destination in 2022, racing for the BMW Junior Team with

ROWE Racing ROWE Racing is the motor racing team of the German lubricant manufacturer ''ROWE Mineralölwerk GmbH''. Since 2011 ''ROWE Racing'' has competed in series such as the VLN (Association of Nürburgring Endurance Cup Organizers), the GT World Challeng ...

, once more alongside Harper and Hesse. After taking their first points in

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical ...

with a fourth-placed finish, the trio ended up fifth in 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 ...

, beating their teammates in the sister car. A further points finish at the Hockenheimring left the American eleventh in the championship, one place ahead of the more experienced line-up of the other

Rowe Racing ROWE Racing is the motor racing team of the German lubricant manufacturer ''ROWE Mineralölwerk GmbH''. Since 2011 ''ROWE Racing'' has competed in series such as the VLN (Association of Nürburgring Endurance Cup Organizers), the GT World Challeng ...

entry. As a result of their accomplishments, Verhagen, Hesse and Harper were introduced as fully-fledged BMW works drivers before the 2023 season.

Racing record

Career summary

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

American Open-wheel racing results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest race lap)

F1600 Championship Series

Complete Formula Renault Eurocup results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete BRDC British Formula 3 Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup results

^*Season still in progress.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Verhagen, Neil 2001 births Living people American people of Dutch descent Racing drivers from Connecticut World Karting Association drivers Formula Ford drivers SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners Formula Renault Eurocup drivers MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers BRDC British Formula 3 Championship drivers MP Motorsport drivers 24H Series drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers Tech 1 Racing drivers Double R Racing drivers BMW M drivers Rowe Racing drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers