Rising Through the Ranks: Laura van den Hengel’s Remarkable Journey of Growth

Laura van den Hengel's first full-time season in GT Cup Open Europe showcased her unrelenting drive to learn and improve: through consistent progress and determination, here's the summary of her journey up the ranks of GT competitions.

Photo credits: Fotospeedy / Gianluca Sciarra

Laura Van Den Hengel completed her first full-time season in GT competitions at the Temple of Speed in Monza, which hosted the season finale of the GT Cup Open Europe championship. Her rookie campaign aboard Mertel Motorsport's Ferrari 488 Challenge machine provided valuable learning experiences and several key takeaways.

Entering the season with close to no experience, a new car, a new team, and racing at unfamiliar tracks, the bronze-rated driver has shown remarkable progress in every area: from brilliant starts and recovery drives to climbing the AM field and making significant improvements in qualifying, Van Den Hengel steadily closed in on the class top three as the rounds progressed, making her one of the most interesting bronze female prospects.

The Dutch racer made the leap from karting to GT Cup with two appearances at the end of 2023, impressing for her natural speed at the wheel of a Porsche 992 GT3 Cup.

Returning for her first full-time campaign, Van Den Hengel focused on refining that raw potential and striving for consistency.

A bronze-rated driver, Laura joined the AM class in an all-female duo with Alba Vazquez, also in her rookie GT season. Despite her lack of experience, Van Den Hengel has been the duo reference in every race entered - which put her in a position to lead the crew while effectively learning lap after lap, on circuits that she had mostly never visited before and in a car that required some adaptation from the Porsche for its different driving style and settings.

Nevertheless, Van Den Hengel has been tirelessly and methodically working to close the gap to the top of the timing sheets - and indeed she delivered, as she soon started to contend for the top three in class and for the overall top ten.

A promising pre-season testing at Barcelona, raised hopes for the championship’s start at Portimão, a tricky circuit known for its rollercoaster layout. Despite facing a gearbox issue in practice that limited her driving time, Van Den Hengel made notable strides at the start of Race 1: with a stellar start, the Dutch racer ran as high as third.

Laura eventually secured two top-ten finishes in Portugal, having faced a technical issue and mixed weather: "For sure I can do a lot better - but it's experience, so I'm fine with it"

Photo credits: GT Sport

Next up would be Hockenheimring - where the steps forward continued, although some misfortunes resulted in her speed going unrewarded. After red flag-disrupted practice again limited her learning time ahead of the races, Laura started to quickly charge through the field in Race 1, lapping significantly faster than her class competitors, before an unfortunate spin ended her race in the gravel.

Extremely self-critical, Van Den Hengel used this setback as a learning opportunity. She regrouped and delivered a spectacular drive in Race 2, almost reaching the top three at the end of her stint.

The second round represented a turning point in the season, as the Dutch racer worked on how to manage her speed more effectively without taking unnecessary risks. "I need to be clean and maybe not really on the limit, but it's also because of the lack of testing", she told us. And results quickly followed.

At the next round at the mighty Spa Francorchamps, in fact, Laura would secure her first top five in the series. With one of her blistering starts, Van Den Hengel gained four positions on the first lap and further climbed to third in class by the end of her stint, overtaking three more competitors on track. The duo finally capitalized on their speed with a fifth place in class at one of Europe's most challenging circuits.

Photo credits: Fotospeedy / Gianluca Sciarra

"I'm not yet at the level I want to be, but I have one goal and that's the podium."

The fourth round, held in the South of France at the scenic Circuit Paul Ricard, was an opportunity to aim higher, as she returned for the first time to a circuit where she had experience on.

Misfortunes would take her out of both races for technical issues outside of her control, but the French weekend was arguably another remarkable step forward: having worked hard on maximising single-lap performance, Laura was the protagonist of a spectacular qualifying effort on Saturday.

Extracting good speed straight away from her tyres, Van Den Hengel delivered and secured second on the grid. Unfortunately, a gearbox issue ended her race on lap two, just after she had again gained a couple of positions at the start. More technical problems meant she couldn’t even take the start of Race 2.

"That was heartbreaking because I was finally in a good pace, I was finally fighting for a podium", she told us. "And I think we could actually achieve it because the pace was so good. I finally showed what I'm capable of." However, progress continued to be made - and the podium continued to get closer.

Photo credits: GT Sport

The penultimate round of the GT Cup Open Europe season took place in Barcelona, where Van Den Hengel led the class in Thursday’s practice and placed third overall, setting the tone for the weekend.

In qualifying, she again showed strong one-lap pace, narrowly missing the top-3. However, all the Ferraris struggled with severe tyre deg due to an unfavorable BoP, turning the races into tyre management contests.

Having taken over from 19th overall, Van Den Hengel bounced back with an epic recovery drive, climbing from 19th overall to finish fourth in class with consistent laps and careful tyre management.

"I think it was very consistent - I tried to keep it fairly stable in lap times and just not make any mistakes, and I didn't. There were a lot of positive things for the weekend" - Laura recalled, after securing her personal best finish in the series.

Photo credits: Elise Wiebes

Throughout the season, Van Den Hengel improved in almost every aspect: racecraft, single-lap performance, consistency, and tyre management. The only missing piece was a podium, which she finally secured during a one-off round of the Italian GT Championship at Mugello.

Returning behind the wheel of a Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car, Laura teamed up with Ian Rodriguez in a ProAm entry; for the first time in her car racing career, she was now relying on a more experienced teammate, and turned this opportunity to improve further.

"He was helping me with the data, the onboard, everything to get me on the right pace," she explained. "For me, it was a next-level experience to work with him."

Van Den Hengel crossed the line second in the Second Division ProAm, securing a podium in her Italian GT debut.

One more challenge awaited her in 2024: the GT Cup Open Europe season finale at Monza. Aiming for her first series podium, Van Den Hengel faced unpredictable weather but showed competitive speed in practice, running steadily in the top five in class.

Alongside her new teammate - young Italian Tommaso Lovati - Laura was second fastest in class, clearly in potential contention for a notable result. However, a power issue and other troubles marred the rest of the weekend.

Photo credits: fvPhoto

Despite consistently matching her silver-rated teammate’s pace throughout the weekend, a tyre puncture ended her hopes early in Race 1 after another blistering start that saw Van Den Hengel moving from 17th overall to the top ten on the first lap - in what was another highlight of her season.

Although an AM podium or win narrowly escaped her grasp, zooming out, Laura Van Den Hengel's season checked many boxes: it was all about learning as much as possible, improving in every area and building experience - and it certainly was successful in that.

"We made a lot of improvements without any resources. If you see the progress, with no testing days, all new tracks and a new car, it was a really good improvement", she acknowledged. "After Paul Ricard, the gap between me and the Pros was getting smaller at every outing."

Amidst the highs and lows, what sets Van Den Hengel apart is her unrelenting drive to learn and improve, never settling for less than her best. It’s this winning mentality that will continue to push her forward in her racing career, with fast bronze drivers increasingly crucial in sports car racing.

Photo credits: Elise Wiebes