Jeroen Bleekemolen
Jeroen Bleekemolen ( born October 23, 1981 in Heemstede ) is a Dutch racing driver and the son of former Formula 1 driver Michael Bleekemolen and brother Sebastiaan Bleekemolen.
Career
Bleekemolen started his motorsport career in karting and in 1995 each second in the 80 cc and 60 cc class of the Dutch Junior Kart Championship. In 1996 he finished fourth in the Junior Kart Championship and third in the Dutch kart championship.
In 1998 he moved to Formula racing and was both overall winner of the Formula Ford Zetec Benelux Championship and the Dutch Formula Ford Zetec Championship. In 1999 he drove in the British Formula Palmer Audi Championship and finished the season on top of the ninth overall. In 2000 he started for Van Amersfoort Racing in the German Formula 3 Championship, but could draw attention to themselves by a single pole position and a seventh place in the championship not to be counted Zandvoort Formula 3 Masters.
In 2001, he played on a Chrysler Viper GTS -R FIA GT Championship and was able to achieve two wins and third place in the final standings, he also became master of the Dutch Renault Clio Cup. In 2002, he finished with a Renault Clio second place in the Dutch Touring Car Championship.
In 2003 he was a regular cockpit at Opel in the DTM and finished his rookie year with two points from 13th place. In 2004 he took, also antretend for Opel, any points the 17th Place. After he won the Dutch BRL V6 series in 2005, jumped Bleekemolen 2006 at two race weekends for Audi driver Olivier Tielemans the DTM team Futurecom TME one, but was eventually replaced by Nicolas Kiesa. He also appeared for the first time at the 24- hour race at Le Mans.
2006/2007 he drove in the single-seater series A1GP for the team of the Netherlands and allowed him through constant performance and a sprint race victory in Beijing overall fifth place, after he had already been in the previous season as a reserve driver at each race weekend on site. In 2007 he celebrated with three race wins a brilliant comeback in the Porsche Supercup, in which he was previously several times occur sporadically, but took "only" ranked eighth in the final bill, which was due to the fact that he had the first race contested as a guest driver. In winter 2007/2008 Bleekemolen went back to the A1GP series at the start and led his team as the only driver with two podium places to seventh place in the championship.
In 2008 he won the called " fastest brand trophy in the world" Porsche Supercup with three racing successes. He also decided at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche RS Spyder with Peter van Merksteijn and Jos Verstappen the LMP2 class of its rating. Also 2008/2009 Bleekemolen drove again some races for the Dutch A1GP team, winning the sprint race at Kyalami, with which he made a great contribution to fourth overall. In 2009, he could confidently defend with five wins and a total of 13 podium positions his Porsche Supercup title. He was also in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany in the same year with four first places runner-up.
2010 Bleekemolen focused on his involvement in the American Le Mans Series and therefore came in the Porsche Supercup this year, only seven races, which ranked seventh with the result. In the GTC - rating of American long-distance race series, however, he retained the upper hand and was with the American Tim Pappas with four class wins champions.
With a Mercedes -Benz SLS AMG GT3 Black Falcon teams of 2012 and 2013 he won the 24 - hour race in Dubai and 2013, the 24 -hour race at the Nürburgring and the 12- hour race in Abu Dhabi.
Jeroen Bleekemolen is one of the busiest and most versatile drivers in the world. In addition to appearances in international championships, he also takes part regularly in the Dutch series, such as the Winter Endurance Kampioenschap ( = Winter Endurance Championship ), the Dutch GT4 Championship or even the imaginary actually a beginner Formula Ford series.