We’ve all seen that the Ford Fiesta Sprint Cup is a perfect starting point for advancing to higher classes of motor sports. The newest batch of drivers from Bas Koeten Racing also takes the step forward: after a very succesfull Fiesta season, Sen Roodenburg and Gianni van de Craats are promoted to the BMW M2 CS Racing Cup in 2023! Both drivers are also added to the KNAF Talent Junior Academy, an acknowledgment of their potential!
Their predecessors als started as a Fiesta junior: in 2018 Loek Hartog grew successfully into the Porsche Carrera Cup and even Porsche Supercup. Daan Pijl can be found in a Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Dante and Jop Rappange drive a GT4 an GT3 on a European level, after driving in the Fiesta Sprint Cup in 2018-2020. In 2020 Colin Caresani became overall Fiesta champion, in 2021 BMW M2 champion and in 2022 vice-champion in the DTM Trophy.
Roodenburg made his debut in 2022 at Bas Koeten Racing in the Ford Fiesta Sprint Cup, after mutiple years in karting. During events 1 and 2, he had to endure his teammates Van Soelen and Van der Craats in front of him. But during the third event in Spa-Francorchamps, Roodenburg struck with his first overall win! Scoring constantly in all the other events, Roodenburg collected the cup win among the juniors during the Final Races in the Dutch championship. “Based on the results of last season, we are eager to make the next step. The BMW M2 Cup ticks all the boxes. I hope the upcoming season will learn me a lot and together with Gianni and Bas Koeten Racing, I am confident I will grow further as a driver.”
Van de Craats already had a year of driving in a Fiesta under his belt. During the first event at Circuit Zandvoort, he already claimed overall victory. The results mid-season were a little more capricious, varying between a place onthe podium and not finishing. But ending strong during the last weekend on TT Circuit Assen. “A year that started fantastiscally, unfortunately ended in a year with up and dowsn. But winning an overall podium in the last race, I look forward to the upcoming year!”
Jelle Koeten: “In the last year, we coached Gianni and Sen in the same we worked with their predecessors that already have gone a long way. Their motvation is really strong and they are aware of the facts that they can learn a lot. Together with the drivers and their supporters, we’ve evaluated last year and we all had the same feeling: they’ve grown so much and are ready for the next step! The BMW M2 CS Racing Cup is the best choice in that regard: a Benelux championship, with a trip to Red Bull Ring, a strong car and racing in a cup format. They are going to compete with experienced drivers, so 2023 will be a year full of learning! With our experience, which includes two titles in a row for Colin Caresani in 2021 and Maxime Oosten in 2022, combined with the KNAF schooling program, the bar is set quite high. We are happy to accept the challenge with them!”
Late November, both drivers were selected for that KNAF Talent Junior Academy. Together with a group of 6 talented drivers, they will follo a schooling program offered by the KNAF, with aiming to accelerate their learning process. The eight will follow a joint and individual training and coaching course that helps them to prepare to the next steps in their carreer.