VeeKay knocked out of promising position at Laguna Seca
Man of the moment Rinus ‘VeeKay’ van Kalmthout was sadly unable to deliver another top result in the 14th round of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series, as the 24-year-old Dutchman was bumped off the track by Kyle Kirkwood while running in a promising position.
Rinus VeeKay is in his element these days – the IndyCar race winner has been representing Dale Coyne Racing for just under six months, and has done so with bravado. The crowning glory of his work so far was last week’s magnificent podium finish in Toronto. With seven top-ten finishes in 13 races to his name, VeeKay travelled to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in California, excited to once again battle for top positions.
His qualifying result failed to dampen his spirits, although admittedly, starting from 17th was lower than he had hoped for, but due to a strong qualifying group and a car whose floor bottomed out several times, the Dutch ace had to settle for a midfield position on the grid. Nevertheless, VeeKay approached the race with optimism. After all, his #18 askROI.com Dale Coyne Racing Honda was well set up for the race, as was proven by P7 in the warm-up.
In his characteristic aggressive style, VeeKay shot out of the blocks. 17th quickly became 12th, and VeeKay and his strategist, Michael Cannon, were ready to implement an alternative tactical plan – an early pit stop allowing VeeKay to swap his soft tyres for hard ones could have meant a significant step forward, partly thanks to the strong fuel economy for which VeeKay and Honda are now renowned.
However, we will never know whether VeeKay could have finished in the top 10, or even the top 5. After 25 of the 95 laps, VeeKay was bumped off the track by Kyle Kirkwood, despite being in fourth position among the drivers who had pitted. To make matters worse, the Dutchman had to watch helplessly for two laps as the caution failed to materialise – the race director did not want to disadvantage anyone during the pit stop frenzy that had just erupted. Consequently, VeeKay dropped down by several laps, which proved to be an insurmountable deficit. Despite the incident, for which Kirkwood received a stop-and-go penalty, VeeKay finished the race in 23rd place, three laps behind.
“I would have liked to say something positive about the result of this race, but unfortunately one of my opponents had other ideas,” said VeeKay from California. “I had a good start from 17th on the grid and immediately passed a few of my rivals. Before my first pit stop, we were up in 12th place. Everything was going well, even after I had switched from soft to hard tyres.”
“Then suddenly I saw Kirkwood looming. He was on soft, faster tyres, so I expected him to overtake me later on. But before braking for the third corner, he drove right into the back of me. I shot into the gravel trap and was stuck there for at least three minutes. It took a while for the race officials to decide to call a caution. I was only able to get out of my position when the yellow flags were displayed, but by then I was several laps behind.”
“Of course I'm disappointed. Despite starting in the middle of the field, I had a good feeling about this race. A lot was possible. The pace was good, I was moving up quickly and, in hindsight, our chosen strategy was the right one. Unfortunately, this is part of the game. After all, I share the track with 26 others, and you can only control your own steering wheel. We now have a week off, which will be nice for my hard-working crew who have once again done a fantastic job, before we travel to Portland. There are three more races to go and we aim to finish this season on a high,” VeeKay concluded.
After a busy July, VeeKay and his fellow IndyCar drivers will enjoy a brief break, as the 15th race of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series is the BitNile Grand Prix of Portland, scheduled for Sunday 10 August. The race at Portland International Raceway will start at around 9:15 p.m. Dutch time and will be broadcast live on Ziggo Sport.
