Michael Bleekemolen

Born on the 2nd October 1949 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Michael Bleekemolen entered one GP in 1977, though did not qualify and in the following year returned with ATS for four races. He later opened indoor kart tracks, ran race experience days at Zandvoort plus set up his own racing team, Team Bleekemolen.

After contesting Formula Vee and Formula Ford, he entered his home GP in 1977 with RAM Racing’s March 761. Boy Hayje had driven the RAM-entered March in a number of races, with little success, and a second car did no better later in the year when entered for selected races by Andy Sutcliffe and Mikko Kozarowitzky. However, Michael did not qualify at Zandvoort, alongside 761s driven by Boy Hayje, Patrick Neve and Arturo Merzario.

In the following season he raced a Chevron B43-Toyota in F3 and starting in March was fifth at Silverstone and second (to Jan Lammers) at Zandvoort then followed this with fourth at Nurburgring, second (from pole) at Osterreichring and third at Zolder. July saw victory at Enna-Pergusa while his other results included fifth at Dijon-Prenois, seventh at Jarama plus eighth at Imola and Knutstorp and he was fifth in the final standings. There were also three F2 outings with a Hart powered Fred Opert Chevron B42 but he retired at Enna Pergusa (due to ignition problems) and did not qualify at Nogaro and his only finish was eighth place at Hockenheim. The year saw four World Championship entries with the German ATS team though it would be a frustrating period with him failing to qualify for three and retiring from his only start. After running a Penske PC4 during the previous year, ATS introduced their HS1 for 1978, which was a reworked PC4 with altered bodywork and other modifications. Jochen Mass and Jean-Pierre Jarier were their drivers but the second car saw no less than four drivers occupying the seat before Michael’s F&S backers (Ton Fagel and Bob van der Sluis) managed to get him into it for Zandvoort. As the season progressed, Jarier left after Monaco and was replaced by Alberto Colombo for the Belgian GP but he failed to qualify and was eventually replaced by Keke Rosberg. Rosberg returned to Theodore Racing for Germany and was replaced by Jarier but he failed to qualify and Mass retired after colliding with Hans-Joachim Stuck. Jarier then quit the team and was replaced by Hans Binder for Austria but both cars failed to qualify and Michael took Binder’s place for Zandvoort. Unfortunately Zandvoort was another disaster for the team, with both cars failing to make the grid, qualifying twenty ninth and thirtieth. At the following race, Mass broke his knee during practice in Italy and was out for the rest of the season. He was replaced by Harald Ertl, who had been eliminated in the pre-qualifying session in an Ensign but both cars failed to qualify. Ertl was immediately replaced by Rosberg after Monza and the team entered one HS1 for the final two races of the season as they had built a D1 (designed by John Gentry and Gustav Brunner and intended to be a replacement for the poorly performing HS1). Michael had driven the D1 in practice for the Italian GP, but never qualified, though Rosberg put in two great performances with the D1 in the season-closing North American races. Michael was with the team for the final two races and managed to qualify the HS1 at Watkins Glen but an oil leak put him out 16 laps from the end. Years later he said he was insane to drive a car of which the chassis was so poorly constructed that he could hear the rivets jump up and down when at high speed! At the final race in Canada, besides the tight and twisting nature of the circuit, torrential rain was thrown in the mix which virtually washed out the two sessions of practice on Friday, there being a brief respite for ten minutes at the end of the Friday afternoon. Fortunately, the conditions dried out on Saturday although the grid provided some surprises with strange faces in unfamiliar places. Friday’s times only indicated who had the bravado and temperament for effective wet weather driving though Rosberg drove well in his ATS D1. Michael fell foul of the conditions (bending the front of the monocoque) and was in good company as Piquet and Laffite also went off track. These were his final F1 drives.

Following his ATS drives Michael returned to Formula 3 for another three years, and then moved on to one-make Renault racing. For 1979 he raced in F3 with Roger Heavens Racing’s Ralt RT1-Toyota and was third in the first race at Osterreichring, then fifth at Magny-Cours and ninth at Monaco. June saw a third place result at Enna-Pergusa (starting on pole and recording the fastest lap), eighteenth at Monza then in three consecutive races in August he took podiums with second and third at Kinnekulle Ring and Knutstorp and won at Zolder. He was eighth and ninth at Jarama and Kassel-Calden and finished a creditable second in the championship, behind champion Alain Prost. Away from F3, there was one Procar outing though he retired the BMW M1 at Zandvoort.

He continued the following year with a privately entered Ralt RT1 and results included fourth at Zolder, sixth at Osterreichring, eighth at Nurburgring and tenth at Zandvoort though he did not qualify for the prestigious Monaco race. There was another Procar BMW M1 drive and he was eighth with a GS-Sport entered car at Zandvoort.

Driving Barron Racing’s Ralt RT3 in 1981’s Marlboro British F3 championship, in the first three rounds in March he was fourth at Silverstone, third at Thruxton and fifth in a second race at Silverstone. He was eighth at Mallory Park, fifth at Thruxton and ninth in the final round at Thruxton in May. He also contested a European F3 round at Zandvoort with Bertram Schafer Racing’s RT3 and was thirteenth while a drive in a privately entered car at Zolder in August saw second place. He quit single-seater racing at the end of 1982 and for many seasons to follow was to be a fierce competitor in the Renault 5 Turbo and Alpine Cups running on the Saturdays at Grands Prix meetings. Gradually he started to concentrate on his business interests and reduced his racing activities. In 1998 he raced a Porsche 911 Turbo at the Monza 1000km alongside Bert Ploeg and Remko Papenburg but they did not finish though in the following year the trio were seventh in a BPR Competition Kremer K8 at a 500km event at Monza 500km.

There were Carsport Holland Viper GTS-R drives in 500km events in 2001 with Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and they were second at Silverstone, third at Hungaroring and the A1-Ring, fourth at Estoril and sixth at Magny-Cours but they did not start at Monza and retired at Brno, Zolder, Nurburgring and Jarama plus the Spa 24 Hours.

2008 saw the first of four seasons teamed with Ronald Van De Laar and in the first year they contested three races in Muhlner Motorsport’s Porsche 997 GT3 Cup. The events had two races at each meeting and they retired and were fifteenth at Oschersleben, tenth and retired at Assen plus retired and were twelfth at Sachsenring. They raced the Team Bleekemolen Porsche 997 GT3 Cup the following year but did not start at Oschersleben, were fourteenth/ninth at Assen, fourteenth/eleventh at Hockenheim, fourteenth/sixteenth at Nurburgring, fourteenth/eighth at Sachensring then thirteenth/fifteenth at another round at Oschersleben. 2010 saw them driving a Porsche 997 GT3 R in ADAC GT races and the pair were fourteenth/twelfth at Oschersleben, twelfth/twelfth at Sachsenring and ninth/retired at Hockenheim. They were eleventh/thirteenth at Assen, sixteenth/twelfth at Lausitzring, fourteenth/twentieth at Nurburgring then dns/eleventh in the final round at Oschersleben. They started 2011 with a 997 GT3 R but only for the first two ADAC GT rounds and were twenty sixth/nineteenth at Oschersleben but did not start at Sachsenring. The following races were in a Mercedes SLS AMG where they were twenty third/twenty third at Zolder, twenty first/twenty fourth at Nurburgring, twenty eight/thirtieth at Zeltweg, thirty first/twentieth at Lausitzring, twenty fourth/twentieth at Assen and twenty third/twenty sixth at Hockenhem.

In 2017 he raced a Topper Team 997 GT3 Cup car alongside his son Sebastian and Dirk Schultz in a GT & Prototype Challenge race at Spa and they were tenth and ninth. Michael made his debut in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2019 driving the Team Bleekemolen Mustang. He was the oldest rookie in NWES history and scored three top ten results in his first nine races then was back on the grid in 2021 and again in 2022 and aiming for the Legend Trophy. During this time, he and Peter Fox entered a GT2 European Series round at Spa in 2021 though retired their KTM X-Bow in both heats.

His business interests saw him open his first indoor kart track in 1993, followed several years later by indoor tracks in Amsterdam and Delft. He also offers car enthusiasts the chance to drive at Zandvoort and runs Race Experience days there and set up his own racing team, Team Bleekemolen. His sons Jeroen and Sebastiaan followed in his footsteps and took up motor racing.