2l Hotrods in Ter Apel: Solid season opener for Luc Ottenheijm
The Dutchman scored three top-10 results in his newly rebuilt car – An eighth-place finish in the final rounded up a solid race weekend in the 2l Hotrods
The 2l Hotrods kicked off the new season at the end of March at the Circuit de Polderputten in Ter Apel, the Netherlands. In the middle of it all was Luc Ottenheijm from the Netherlands, who is contesting his first full season in the touring car class after gaining initial experience in 2021. Over the winter, he rebuilt his car from scratch to be competitive in the Autospeedway class on the small ovals. At the season opener, he scored three top-10 results.
16 drivers took on the three races of the 2l Hotrods at the season opener in the north of the Netherlands. The race was traditionally held on the small oval at Ter Apel. Ottenheijm made a good impression in the first race and showed that the work in the winter had paid off. While Martijn Vowinkel won the race ahead of Sander vd Heijden and champion Marius Bert, Ottenheijm, who was active in Stockcar F2 for many years, finished in tenth place.
The new red race car seemed to be on and in race two the confirmation followed promptly. Again it was Vowinkel who finished in first place. This time he beat Alex Elesen and Bert. Ottenheijm repeatedly finished in tenth place. In the final, the Dutchman went one better and secured eighth place, his personal best result of the day.
The 20-lap race was won by current champion Bert ahead of Vowinkel and Heijden, while Niklas Willemsen and Frank Nöhring completed the top-5. Tim Klose finished sixth ahead of Fabian Baer. The 2l Hotrods were of course not the only class on track at the Autospeedway opener at Circuit de Polderputten. There was plenty of action on both the small and large oval.
The Saloon Stockcars also raced on the shortened track. The winners were class veteran Jeremy van de Kraats, who won both heats, and Nick Antwerp. The trophies in the BMW 325i Cup on the big oval went to Otto Dorholt, Erik Vrieze and Jeffrey Bolk. In the Cross class, Otto de Wilde won two races before Robert Mensies finished first in the final.
In the Junior category, Brian Kuper celebrated two wins, while Keano Boes won the second heat. Reimon Bos dominated the action in the National Hotrods, winning all heats. In the Rookie Rods the winners were Tim Tiben, Raymond Kuiper and Jana Kuper. The wins in the Standard class were shared by Jeffrey Zwiep (two wins) and Tom Brakels. In the Superrods Kevin Zwiep celebrated three victories.
