Rinus van Kalmthout (born 11 September 2000), known professionally as Rinus VeeKay is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

racing driver. He drives the No. 21 Dallara-Chevrolet for

Ed Carpenter Racing Ed Carpenter Racing is an American racing team based in Speedway, Indiana that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team is owned by driver Ed Carpenter. The team is based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and currently fields the No. 20 Dal ...

in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

Career

Karting

van Kalmthout started karting in 2009. The eight-year-old won races in the

4-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

cadet championship with a DR chassis. He finished second in the championship. During the 2009-2010 winter season van Kalmthout won the 4-stroke cadet series. The following season the young driver graduated into the

Briggs & Stratton Briggs & Stratton Corporation is an American manufacturer of gasoline engines with headquarters in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Engine production averages 10 million units per year as of April 2015. The company reports that it has 13 large facilit ...

World Formula 4-stroke class winning the Dutch and Benelux championships. He also focused on the

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 ...

Minimax class winning the Dutch championship in 2012 and Junior championship in 2013. Throughout 2014 and 2015 van Kalmthout raced in various Rotax Max racing series. He finished second in the Rotax Max Euro Challenge Senior class, behind Australian driver

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Junior open-wheel formulae

Introduced as Rinus VeeKay, van Kalmthout signed with

Pabst Racing August Uihlein Pabst III is a former racing driver and current team owner of Pabst Racing. He is also the great-great grandson of Frederick Pabst, founder of the Pabst Brewing Company, and the great-great grandson of August Uihlein of Joseph Sch ...

to race in the American-based

USF2000 The USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires is an American racing series using the American variation of the Formula Ford formula, "F2000", that resumed operation for the 2010 season. As of 2022, it is sanctioned by the United States Auto ...

. VeeKay tested the

Tatuus USF-17 The Tatuus F4-T014 is a junior formula racing car introduced in 2014 by Italian manufacturer Tatuus. The basic chassis is also used in the Tatuus MSV F4-016, Tatuus USF-17 and the Tatuus PM-18. F4-T014 and MSV F4-016 The Tatuus F4-T014 was the fi ...

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United State ...

. The young Dutch driver ran constant top-ten times for the new driver, new team entry. To further prepare for the 2017 season VeeKay raced in the final two rounds of the French

V de V Challenge Monoplace The V de V Challenge Monoplace is a single-seater racing series active in Europe. The series was founded in 2010 set up by V de V Sports. History The series was founded in 2010 and originally divided into three sub classes. The series saw the li ...

. In an

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 ...

entered 2013

Tatuus Tatuus is an Italian chassis manufacturer for a series of formula racing series, being first founded in 1980. The company is known for its association with Renault Sport for its production of the Formula Renault chassis. History The Tatuus ...

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

2.0 car VeeKay scored five podium finishes in six races. In the 2017 U.S. F2000 Championship, VeeKay won six races and finished second in the championship to

Oliver Askew Oliver Clark Askew (born December 12, 1996) is an American-Swedish race car driver who races under the American flag. He previously competed in the Formula E World Championship for Avalanche Andretti Formula E. He is the 2019 Indy Lights champ ...

. After winning the 2018 Pro Mazda Championship with

Juncos Racing Juncos Hollinger Racing, formerly Juncos Racing, is an Argentine-American racing team competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, Indy Lights and Indy Pro 2000 Championship series in the Road to Indy ladder for IndyCar. Owned by Ricardo Juncos, who form ...

, VeeKay stepped up to the Indy Lights championship for

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again with Juncos Racing. He finished second in the championship, again behind Askew.

IndyCar Series

In July 2019 it was announced that VeeKay would join the

IndyCar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...

test at Portland with

. On 20 November the team officially signed him as the replacement for

Spencer Pigot Spencer James Pigot (born September 29, 1993) is an American racing driver who currently drives in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Personal life Pigot was born in Los Angeles and raised Pasadena, California, and Orlando where he graduated from ...

. In his first IndyCar race in the Genesys 300 at

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 24° ...

he crashed in practice. He missed qualifying as the team couldn't fix the car in time. In the race, he crashed out on lap 38 and collected Alex Palou. At

Iowa Speedway Iowa Speedway is a 7/8-mile (1.4 km) paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, United States, approximately east of Des Moines. It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered RV viewing area along the backstretch ...

, confusion over a postponed restart led

Colton Herta Colton Thomas Herta (born March 30, 2000) is an American open-wheel racing driver currently competing in the NTT IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian. He is the youngest person to ever win an IndyCar Series race. He is the ...

to launch over VeeKay's car from the rear; both drivers were unharmed due to a new laminate aeroscreen introduced for 2020. VeeKay achieved his first top 5 finish in IndyCar at the IndyGP and his first podium in the Harvest GP. He was confirmed for a return to ECR in 2021 on October 25, 2020. He won the Indy GP, scoring his first win, 5 seconds ahead of second-placed Romain Grosjean. VeeKay ran as high as fourth place in the championship after back to back top ten finishes including a second-place finish in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

before he fractured his clavicle during a cycling accident, forcing him to miss the following race at

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Champ ...

. After the season VeeKay and ECR announced he had re-signed with the team for another season.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As van Kalmthout was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
^‡ Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship. ^* Season still in progress.

American open-wheel racing results

U.S. F2000 National Championship

Pro Mazda Championship

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

Indianapolis 500

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship. ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:VeeKay, Rinus 2000 births Sportspeople from North Holland Dutch racing drivers MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship drivers U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers Indy Lights drivers IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers People from Haarlemmermeer Living people F3 Asian Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers MP Motorsport drivers Juncos Hollinger Racing drivers Hitech Grand Prix drivers Ed Carpenter Racing drivers DragonSpeed drivers Racing Team Nederland drivers