Toine Hezemans

Toine Hezemans 1972

Toine Hezemans (right) and Brian Muir at the Nürburgring in 1973

With his compatriots Gijs van Lennep (left) and Michael Bleekemolen (in the car) at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix

Antoine Emile "Toine" Hezemans (born April 15, 1943 in Eindhoven ) is a former Dutch automobile racing driver .

Career in motorsport

Toine Hezemans is one of the three Hezemans known in international motorsport. His father Mathieu was already a racing driver and in 1956 he competed with his compatriot Carel Godin de Beaufort in the Le Mans 24-hour race . Toine's sons Mike and Loris Hezemans are also racing drivers. In addition to the Andrettis Mario , Michael and Marco , the Hezemans are the second family where grandfather, father and son competed in the Le Mans endurance race.

Toine Hezemans was primarily a touring and sports car racing driver , where he enjoyed great success in the 1960s and 1970s. He achieved his first international victory in 1967 at the Hockenheim Grand Prix , a GT race that was part of the sports car world championship . In 1970 he became a works driver at Alfa Romeo and competed for the Italian works team in the European Touring Car Championship . With four wins of the season he secured the overall ranking of the drivers' championship at the end of the season, a success that he was able to repeat in 1973 as a BMW works driver. His first major success as a sports car driver also fell during his time as an Alfa Romeo works driver. In 1971 he won the Targa Florio with Masten Gregory . Twice, in 1977 and 1978 , he won the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring and in 1978 the 24-hour race at Daytona and the 6-hour race at Watkins Glen .

In Germany he became known and popular as a successful starter in the German racing championship in the 1970s . Hezemans drove professionally until the end of the 1979 season, when he resigned.

Less well known is Toine Hezemans' one-time attempt in 1970 between Christmas and New Years to organize a race exclusively for VW Beetles. The so-called “Crazy Race” was a success and very popular with the spectators because of the spectacle, but in view of the safety deficiencies it only took place once in Holland.

Carsport Holland

In 1997 he founded his own racing team with Carsport Holland , which was active in GT racing until 2007 .

Entrepreneur

Even during his racing career, Hezemans worked as a diamond dealer. After racing, he became wealthy as a real estate dealer. His entrepreneurs own hotels, office and apartment buildings.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1970	Autodelta SpA	Alfa Romeo Tipo 33	Masts Gregory				failure	Fire
1973	BMW Motorsport	BMW 3.0 CSL	Dieter Quester				11th place and class win
1975	Gelo Racing Team	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Gijs van Lennep	John Fitzpatrick	Manfred Schurti	Georg Loos	5th place and class win
1976	Gelo Racing Team	Porsche 934	Tim donation				Rank 16
1977	Gelo Racing Team	Porsche 935	Tim donation	Hans Heyer			failure	fuel pump
1978	Weisberg Gelo Racing	Porsche 935/77	Klaus Ludwig	John Fitzpatrick			failure	Cylinder head

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1970	Autodelta SPA	Alfa Romeo T33 / 3	Masts Gregory	Rank 3
1971	Autodelta Spa	Alfa Romeo T33 / 3	Nino Vaccarella	failure	Gasoline system
1972	Autodelta Spa	Alfa Romeo T33 / TT / 3	Nino Vaccarella	Rank 3

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th
1967	Abarth	Abarth 1300 OT	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
										1	11				13
1969	SRT Holland	Abarth 2000S	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
					23
1970	Autodelta	Alfa Romeo Tipo 33	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
				3		18th	DNF			DNF		DNF
1971	Autodelta	Alfa Romeo Tipo 33	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
					DNF	16	4th		1	5		2
1972	Autodelta Osella Dieter Quester	Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Abarth-Osella SE-021 Chevron B21	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
			DNF		3	DNF			3			5
1973	BMW	BMW 3.0 CSL	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
									9	11
1974	Ford Germany Gelo Racing	Ford Capri Porsche Carrera RSR	MON	SPA	ONLY	IMO	LEM	ZEL	WAT	LEC	BRH	KYA
					11						11	5
1975	Gelo Racing	Porsche Carrera RSR	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SPA	BY	ONLY	ZEL	WAT
				9	5	6th	9		9
1976	Gelo Racing Egon Evertz	Porsche 934	MUG	VAL	ONLY	MON	SIL	IMO	ONLY	ZEL	BY	WAT	MOS	DIJ	DIJ	SAL
			DNF		2				2			2
1977	Gelo Racing	Porsche 935	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SIL	ONLY	VAL	BY	WAT	EST	LEC	MOS	IMO	SAL	BRH	HOK	VAL
							3	1											11
1978	Brumos Porsche Gelo Racing	Porsche 935	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	SIL	ONLY	LEM	MIS	DAY	WAT	VAL	ROD
			1		1		2	16	1	DNF	DNF		1	2

Web links

Commons : Toine Hezemans  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Toine Hezemans at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Below and Above - about the "Crazy Race" in Holland  : Article by Rainer Braun zwischengas.com (last visited July 5, 2016)
2. ^ Carsport Holland
3. ^ Toine Hezemans as an entrepreneur