Motorsports Mondial

Photo: Formula Abarth

Hannes in Wonderland: They say practice makes perfect. And that’s what Hannes van Asseldonk, the Boy from Boekel, in the Netherlands, plan to do during the off-season. No sooner had the Formula BMW Europe season ended Hannes hopped in a Formula Abarth car of Prema Junior team at Vallelunga and recorded very quick times.

He was fastest in first free practice and qualified on the second row in fourth place for his debut in Formula Abarth Championship past weekend.

Photo: Formula Abarth

More surprise was in store for the competition. Still only in his first full year of racing and competing against a field of over 30 drivers, including son of ex-F1 driver Eddie Cheever, Hannes recorded the fastest lap of the race on his way to the maiden win of his young racing career.

In the recently concluded Formula BMW Europe series, Hannes drove for Josef Kaufmann Racing of Germany. His teammates were fellow Dutchman Robin Frijns, who went on to win the championship in the final race of the season at Monza, and Finnish karting star Petri Suvanto.

Hannes will have his hands full when he competes in 2011 in the yet-to-be –determined series due to the demise of Formula BMW Europe at the end of this season, but given his impressive pace and fierce determination, the future for this young 18-year old Dutch driver is ‘starry, starry bright.’

–         Nasir Hameed

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/mp3.f1weekly.com/podcasts/09-30-10f1weekly461.mp3]