Laura van den Hengel extends championship lead with fighting Barcelona round
- RACERS
- 3 days ago
- 9 min read
Laura van den Hengel and Burgers Motorsport teammate Paul Meijer turned around a challenging Saturday to bounce back with a brilliant recovery drive in Race 2, securing their sixth ProAm victory of the season and extending their GT Cup Europe ProAm championship lead ahead of the Monza finale.
Despite a challenging Saturday where the Burgers Motorsport team of Laura van den Hengel and Paul Meijer missed the ProAm podium, the class championship leaders fought back strongly with another remarkable recovery on Sunday. A solid opening stint by Iron Dames-supported van den Hengel, followed by another brilliant showing from her teammate, secured the stellar duo their sixth class win of the season in GT Cup Europe, extending their championship lead with just one round left.
Van den Hengel, in only her second full season of car racing, has made a major step forward this year, consistently battling at the top of the ProAm class, running within the top ten overall and establishing herself among the strongest bronze drivers in the series. Paired with experienced racer Paul Meijer at the wheel of the #7 Burgers Motorsport by Hans Weijs Motorsport Porsche, the duo have been unstoppable in the 2025 season of GT Cup Europe, collecting six overall podiums and six class wins over ten races so far.
Having become a race winner at the Portimão opener, van den Hengel has always picked herself up and bounced back after setbacks and fought in every round, standing on the podium at least once in every race meeting to date. This was the story once again at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where the Dutchwoman added a win to her tally.
After a difficult Saturday where she couldn't hold position, she returned on Sunday with a determined comeback, first finding her groove in a wet qualifying session before delivering a more confident first stint in the race, holding third in class before handing the car over to Meijer, who charged to the ProAm victory despite a safety car-disrupted second stint.
Coming off a perfect weekend at Le Castellet — where van den Hengel and Meijer swept the round with two wins — the Burgers Motorsport by HWM duo had to face a challenging success handicap at Barcelona, a track where tyre management and thus car balance are crucial.
In FP1, the Bronze-dedicated test session on Thursday afternoon, the team opted to use old tyres in order to save fresh sets, as the Motmelo circuit is known for being highly demanding on tyres especially in the hot conditions. Despite the tyre mileage, Laura recorded a 1:47.815 that placed the #7 Porsche in sixth place overall and third among the ProAm entries.
In Friday's first practice, Paul Meijer immediately led the session with a strong pace in the 1:44.8s, being the only car in that range, before improving to a 1:44.4. Van den Hengel then took over and showed promise in the first sector, but a red flag interruption halted her progress. After the restart with 22 minutes to go, Laura progressively improved sector by sector, running steadily in the 1:47s before clocking a 1:47.0 in the final minutes. The duo ended the session P1 overall.
Later in the evening, with the sun setting over Circuit de Catalunya, the third practice session got underway with Laura van den Hengel starting on used tyres. She steadily got into the rhythm before Paul Meijer bolted on a fresher set and put in a 1:44.048 to go fastest overall.
Just as van den Hengel took over for her first laps on the fresher rubber, she managed a positive 1:47.3 before the red flag was out again, denying the Dutch racer a chance to improve further. The session resumed with just three minutes left, but another red flag ended proceedings before she could set any representative time.
"In practice we didn't find the right setup due to circumstances – weather conditions, a lot of red flags, so it was super, super messy," explained van den Hengel. "And finally, when we had the fresher tyres, we had red flags, so I didn't do a single lap on fresh tyres, which made for difficult setup work. From then, it was a bit of a gamble how to go into the races."
On Saturday morning, the first qualifying session of the weekend saw Paul Meijer take over driving duties. Having been the fastest across practice, Burgers Motorsport looked to carry the momentum – and it was a completely dominant session for the Dutch outfit.
Meijer built up speed and, on his first flying lap, set purple sectors across the board to clock a 1:43.591, the first driver all weekend to dip under the 1:44 barrier. He took provisional pole by over one second.
He attempted another push lap and was again fastest in the first two sectors, but ran slightly wide into the final corner and couldn’t improve.
With a safe margin secured, Meijer pitted – and nobody else could get closer. Tommaso Luvisi, in the sister Burgers Motorsport by HWM car, was second fastest overall and top Silver entry with a 1:44.253. The closest ProAm entry was the Q1 Porsche of Stienes Longin, while closest championship rival, the #78 Tsunami RT Porsche, was only fifth in class, having opted for the alternate strategy with bronze-rated Scannicchio in Q1.
The first race of the Barcelona weekend would therefore feature a Burgers Motorsport by HWM front row lockout, with Paul Meijer securing another dominant pole position despite minor ABS and braking issues.
At the start of Race 1, Meijer accelerated away cleanly and was not under pressure into Turn 1, with Luca Franca slotting into second ahead of Lovati in the #992 Burgers Motorsport Porsche.
However, Meijer’s getaway was halted almost immediately when Privitelio’s stranded Lamborghini at Turn 2 brought out the safety car on the opening lap.
Five minutes of caution followed, limiting Meijer’s opportunity to build a gap. Once racing resumed, he pushed hard and immediately began to pull away at a rate of one and a half seconds per lap. He was the only driver to dip below the 1:46s, consistently improving the fastest lap of the race.
By lap 8, Meijer had set a 1:45.170 and extended the gap to over five seconds, while Franca was busy defending second place from ProAm runner-up Stienes Longin. A blistering 1:44.863 from Meijer extended the lead to eight seconds as the pit window approached.
Over the next three laps, Meijer added four more seconds before pitting to hand over to Laura van den Hengel. After serving the heavy 20-second handicap, she rejoined behind the #56 Porsche of Peter Ferter – then leading ProAm – and a train of Silver class entries. Caught in heavy traffic on her outlap, however, van den Hengel also lost out to Saelens for second in ProAm. With cars from multiple classes battling around her, the #7 Porsche struggled to find its rhythm and dropped to eighth overall.
Once in cleaner air, however, Laura improved, setting a 1:48.7 before lowering it to 1:48.1 two laps later. Yet gold-rated Fabio Babini, charging through the field in his second stint, was closing quickly. On lap 20, Babini caught van den Hengel, but she defended firmly at Turn 1 and again at Turn 5, holding him off with strong defensive driving.
While Babini eventually made his way through, he now faced a larger gap to class leader Ferter ahead, who was busy fighting Silver entries Larini and Fernandes. Van den Hengel held fourth in class, still in the thick of a multi-class battle.
On their first outing for Burgers Motorsport, Davide Larini and Tommaso Lovati claimed the overall victory. The battle for ProAm honours saw Ferter narrowly hold on from Babini, with Saelens completing the class podium. Laura van den Hengel crossed the line fourth in ProAm and eleventh overall, still banking valuable championship points despite the challenging race.
"Paul started from first and we had the handicap penalties. Then I took over, but I didn't have the pace from the start. It was a hard race," commented a disappointed van den Hengel, determined to bounce back on Sunday.
A new day brought new opportunities for the #7 Porsche crew. Van den Hengel took the wheel for the second qualifying session in the morning – just as rain hit the circuit. What initially appeared to be light drizzle quickly intensified into a heavy shower, catching several drivers out on their outlaps. The session was red-flagged when Peter Ferter’s #56 Porsche ended up in the gravel.
As conditions deteriorated further, a second restart was also short-lived, with multiple cars spinning in undriveable conditions. The session was suspended until the rain eased slightly. When cars returned to the track, van den Hengel managed a clean lap in the treacherous conditions, setting a 2:09.640 to run fifth overall and top of the ProAm entries.
Another red flag followed, cutting the session short once again. With just four minutes left on the clock, the green flag waved for a crucial final run. Van den Hengel delivered a strong 2:03.440 banker lap to secure provisional ProAm pole, but was unlucky to cross the line just seconds before the chequered flag – denying her a chance at a second flying lap where she could have improved significantly further.
Gold-rated Babini then improved to class pole, while Riccardo Romagnoli also found time on his second attempt, having narrowly avoided the flag on his previous lap. His improvement put him second in ProAm, but a post-session penalty promoted van den Hengel back to P2 in class and tenth overall on the grid.
"We had super heavy weather conditions, aquaplaning all around, it was crazy," she recalled. "After the red flags, I was one of the only drivers who didn't have two push laps, and it was super important in the rain. So I dropped from P6 to eventually, with some penalties ahead, to tenth."
For Race 2 on Sunday afternoon, van den Hengel took the start in dry conditions despite intermittent showers throughout the morning.
When the lights went out, she had a good launch but was forced to take the Turn 1 escape road to avoid spinning cars in the chaos. She rejoined in P12 but gained positions when contact between Armanni and Bugliotti sent the latter into the gravel at Turn 5, while Ferter and Romagnoli also went off. The safety car was deployed, and van den Hengel found herself up to ninth overall when the race was neutralized.
The green flag waved again with 43 minutes to go: Ian Rodriguez snatched the overall lead from Fabio Babini, while van den Hengel held second in ProAm, behind the Silver-class car of Larini. Behind her, Ivan Velasco in the #24 Lamborghini used the Huracan straight-line speed to pass her on lap 4.
Once settled, van den Hengel found her rhythm and defended strongly from Saelens and Brauns, holding second in ProAm with a 1:47.2 lap. A slight mistake on lap 7 however saw both Saelens and Brauns forcing their way through, dropping her to third in class – with the field remaining compact.
Laura regrouped and returned to steady 1:47s pace, keeping the gap to those ahead within tenths of a second. She pitted on lap 11 from P12 overall and third in class, handing the car to Paul Meijer.
With Stienes Longin six seconds ahead but carrying a five-second penalty for causing a collision on the opening lap, the pit cycle elevated Meijer to eighth overall and third in class. He then set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:45.618 – the only driver to dip below 1:46 all race – as he closed in on his rivals.
Meijer gained another position overall, but the race was soon neutralized when Leandro Martins’ #911 Porsche stopped at Turn 2, bringing out the safety car with 16 minutes to go. When race leader Lars Zaenen also retired in the pits with technical issues, the field bunched up, placing Meijer sixth overall and third in class.
The restart with eight minutes left saw Meijer immediately in attack mode; he passed De Mello and ProAm rival Scannicchio, just before De Mello went deep into Turn 5 and collided with Scannicchio – eliminating both and triggering yet another safety car.
Now up to second, and with both Longin and Longoni having to serve penalties, Meijer crossed the finish line behind the pace car to secure second overall and the team’s sixth ProAm victory of the season. It was a remarkable comeback that maximized points in a tricky weekend, further extending their lead in the class standings.
"We gained some valuable points, so that's the thing to take," van den Hengel said. "We won in class, second overall, which I didn't expect this weekend, and with a lot of safety cars."
With five rounds now in the books, one final event at the Temple of Speed in Monza will see Laura van den Hengel and Paul Meijer arrive with a healthy points margin as they gear up to fight for the 2025 GT Cup Europe ProAm title.