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

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

racing driver. He competes in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

, driving the No. 18 Dallara-Honda for

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series and Indy NXT. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known ...

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 small 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 faciliti ...

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 shaf ...

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

Pierce Lehane Pierce may refer to: Places Canada * Pierce Range, a mountain range on Vancouver Island, British Columbia United States * Pierce, Colorado * Pierce, Idaho * Pierce, Illinois * Pierce, Kentucky * Pierce, Nebraska * Pierce, Texas * Pierce, Wes ...

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 S ...

to race in the American-based

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

. VeeKay tested the Tatuus USF-17 at

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

. 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 lig ...

. In an

MP Motorsport MP Motorsport is a Dutch auto racing team currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 3 Championship, Eurocup-3, Spanish Formula 4 Championship and the newly established F1 Academy in 2023. The team has also participated in ...

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. Company history Tatuu ...

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

2.0 car VeeKay scored five podium finishes in six races. He also competed in the Indian and Middle East based

MRF Challenge MRF Challenge is an open-wheel motorsport formula In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science r ...

for the 2016–17 and 2017–18 Championships. 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 racing driver. He is the 2019 Indy Lights champion. Racing career Early career Askew began karting at the age of 8 in Jupiter. He finished third and sixth in the Rotax Max Challenge Gra ...

. 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 IndyCar Series. Owned by Ricardo Juncos, who formed the team in 1997, the team was initially based in Argentina before limited racing opp ...

, VeeKay stepped up to the Indy Lights championship for

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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

IndyCar Series

Ed Carpenter Racing (2019–2024)

In July 2019 it was announced that VeeKay would join the

IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

test at Portland with

Ed Carpenter Racing Ed Carpenter Racing, competing as "ECR", is an American racing team based in Speedway, Indiana that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team is owned by driver Ed Carpenter (racing driver), Ed Carpenter. The team is based in Indianapol ...

. 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. Personal life Pigot was born in Los Angeles and raised Pasadena, California, and Orlando where he graduated from Windermere Preparatory School. He currently resides in ...

. In his first IndyCar race in the Genesys 300 at

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway (formerly known as Texas International Raceway from September to December 1996) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It has hosted various major races since its inaugura ...

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 Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people *Alexand ...

. At

Iowa Speedway Iowa Speedway is a oval short track in Newton, Iowa. Since its inaugural season of racing in 2006, the track has hosted a variety of racing events, including events sanctioned by NASCAR and IndyCar. NASCAR has owned the facility since 2013, wi ...

, confusion over a postponed restart led

Colton Herta Colton Thomas Herta (born March 30, 2000) is an American auto racing, racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Global with Curb Agajanian Performance Group, Curb Agajanian. He is the yo ...

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 25 October 2020. He won the Indy GP, scoring his first win, five 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 List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

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 racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

. After the season VeeKay and ECR announced he had re-signed with the team for another season. Shortly after the 2024 season, in which VeeKay placed thirteenth in the championship with a best race finish of fifth, it was reported by ''Racer'' that Ed Carpenter Racing had cut ties with VeeKay. The decision came as a "surprise" to VeeKay, who was actively negotiating a contract extension with the team.

Dale Coyne Racing (2025–present)

On 14 February 2025, it was announced that VeeKay would be joining

as a full-time entrant in the 2025 season, driving the number 18 entry.

Karting record

Karting career summary

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.

Complete F3 Asian Winter Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

American open-wheel racing results

U.S. F2000 National Championship

Pro Mazda Championship

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

( key)

Indianapolis 500

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (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 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 Sportspeople 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 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers TDS Racing drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers