Kees Nierop

Kees Nierop (born March 16, 1958 ) is a driver safety trainer and former Canadian racing driver of Dutch descent.

Career

Kees Nierop began his racing career in touring car motorsport in the late 1970s. In 1978 he won the title in the Canadian GT-1 championship with a Datsun 280Z .

In the following year he started in the IMSA GT series for the first time. From 1979 he took part in races regularly until 1986, with interruptions in 1981, 1982 and 1984. He contested his first runs at Daytona and Sebring in a Ford Mustang II Cobra in the GTX class. Then he switched to Porsche racing cars. In a Porsche 935 K3 , he and Bob Garretson and Bobby Rahal finished 7th in the Sebring 12-hour race in 1980. In 1983 he celebrated his greatest racing success by winning the Sebring 12-hour race. Together with Wayne Baker and Jim Mullen , he drove a Porsche 934 that started in the GTO class to first place in the overall standings. At the 6-hour race at Riverside, he and the same team-mates drove to fifth place and the GTO class victory. In 1985, Nierop and Jim Mullen and Ray McIntyre finished fifth in a modified Porsche 935 at the Daytona 24-hour race. He was able to complete several more races with a 934 for the Electrodyne Performance Team with results among the top 20 places. A year later, he and Bob Akin finished sixth overall in a GTP class Porsche 962 in the 500-mile race at Road America. In the same year, Nierop became a Porsche works driver and, together with Günter Steckkönig , drove in the 3-hour race of Daytona Finale in 1986 with a Porsche 961 that was tested under racing conditions in 24th place and 11th place in the GTP classification. This was also his last race in the IMSA racing series.

Nierop contested several races from 1979 to 1987 in the sports car world championship . He drove his first races in 1979 and 1980 at the 24-hour races in Daytona, 12-hour races at Sebring and 6-hour races at Mosport, whose races were classified in the Manufacturers' World Championship and at the same time in the IMSA series. In 1984 he drove the first race only counted in the sports car world championship in a Porsche 956 at the 1000 km race in Mosport for the Kremer Racing team, in which he and his fellow drivers could not make the classification due to a gearbox damage. In 1987 he and Bob Wollek completed the test race for the 24-hour race in Le Mans with a Porsche 962 started in Group C and finished in 2nd place. In the actual 24-hour race , he drove a Porsche 961 together with René Metge and Claude Haldi , which he had to retire after the 199th lap due to an accident.

From 1986 to 1989 Nierop competed in the Canadian Porsche 944 Cup championship and in the Escort Endurance Series organized by the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) . In 1986 he was able to win the championship title in the Porsche 944 Cup racing series. A year later he drove a Porsche 944 S in the Escort Endurance Series to third place in the season standings. In 1988 he reached fifth place in the season result in the Canadian Porsche 944 Turbo Cup championship. He drove his last races in a racing series in 1989 in the Escort Endurance Series with a Ford Mustang modified by the Saleen company .

In addition to touring car and sports car races, he drove two racing seasons in the British Formula 3 Championship in 1981 and 1982 . There he drove a Ralt RT3 (Toyota) first for the Tiga team and later in the second season for Trundle Racing .

In 2007 and 2008, Nierop took part in the Transsyberia Rally as a driver for Porsche Cars North America - Team Canada , where he drove a Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia specially built for this mission .

He drove his last race together with Ross Bentley , Sean McIntosh and Darryl O'Young in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 997) at the 24-hour race of Daytona in the Grand-Am Sports Car Series on a 20th place.

Kees has been a certified instructor at the Porsche Sport Driving School since 2008.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1987	Rothmans Porsche AG	Porsche 961	René Metge	Claude Haldi	failure	accident

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1979	Kemp Motoracing	Ford Cobra II	Charlie Kemp	Carson Baird	failure	Engine failure
1980	Dick Barbour Racing	Porsche 935K3	Bob Garretson	Bobby Rahal	Rank 7
1983	Personalized car dealership	Porsche 934	Wayne Baker	Jim Mullen	Overall victory

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Kees Nierop - website: biography of Kees Nierop. From: members.shaw.ca , accessed December 5, 2012 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Driver Database - website: Kees Nierop. From: www.driverdb.com , accessed December 5, 2012 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Racing Sports Cars - Website: Kees Nierop. From: www.racingsportscars.com , accessed December 5, 2012 . 
4. ^ Classicscars - Internet site: Race results of the 1986 IMSA championship. On: www.classicscars.com , accessed on December 5, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Classicscars - Internet site: Race results of the Sports Car World Championship 1979. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on December 5, 2012 . 
6. ↑ Classicscars - Website: Racing results of the sports car world championship 1980. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on December 5, 2012 . 
7. ↑ Classicscars - Internet site: Racing results of the sports car world championship 1984. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on December 5, 2012 . 
8. ↑ Classicscars - Internet site: Race results of the Sports Car World Championship 1987. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on December 5, 2012 . 
9. ↑ Transsyberia Rally - Website: Teams & Driver - Kees Nierop. (No longer available online.) At: www.transsyberia-rallye.de , archived from the original on April 4, 2011 ; Retrieved December 5, 2012 .