Indy Dontje

Indy Dontje (born 21 November 1992 in Alkmaar, North Holland) is a Dutch racing driver. After starting in ADAC Formel Masters and ATS Formel 3 Cup Dontje is now a Mercedes-Benz GT3 driver.

Indy Dontje
Nationality	Dutch
Born	(1992-11-21) 21 November 1992 (age 31) Alkmaar, North Holland
Related to	Milan Dontje (brother)
Current team	Winward Racing
Racing licence	FIA Silver
Car number	57
Previous series
2014 2012-2013	ATS Formel 3 Cup ADAC Formel Masters
Championship titles
2021, 2024	24 Hour of Daytona Pro-Am

Career

Karting

Father Arthur Dontje supported his sons Indy and Milan with their own karting team early in their careers. Arthurs chocolate company, Dobla, was the naming sponsor. Indy started racing in Rotax Max powered classes, such as MiniMax and Junior Max.^[1] After graduating into shifter karts, Dontje raced in the German Karting Championship in 2009 against other young hopefuls such as Jack Hawksworth and Hannes van Asseldonk.^[2] Later in his karting career, in 2010 and 2011, the young karter competed in the USA in the SKUSA SuperNationals. In 2010 Dontje finished third in the S1 class.^[3] The following year Dontje finished second in a factory supported Energy Corse kart.^[4]

Single seaters

Dontje made his single-seater debut in 2012 at age 19. Racing in the ADAC Formel Masters Dontje joined Team Motopark, part of the Lotus F1 junior program.^[5] During the season Dontje scored one podium finish, a third place at the Sachsenring.^[6] For 2013 Dontje remained at Team Motopark. He won the third race of the season, at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.^[7] The Dutchman won a second race at the Red Bull Ring.^[8] Dontje was the only driver to score points every single race during the season. This placed the Dutchman sixth in the series standings.

For 2014 Dontje remained at the Lotus backed Team Motopark to race in the ATS Formel 3 Cup.^[9] With the German F3 championship running older machinery compared to the European F3, the German championship struggled to attract many drivers with many races being run with less than ten drivers. Dontje scored fourteen podium finishes, with a single victory, out of 23 races. Dontje won the second race during the Red Bull Ring weekend.^[10] The Dutchman also competed in the 2014 Zandvoort Masters. Dontje challenged Nabil Jeffri for third but had to settle for fourth place, scoring the fastest racelap in the progress.^[11]

GT racing

The Mercedes-AMG GT4 raced by Dontje in the 12H of Spa.

In 2015 Rowe Racing named Dontje as one of their drivers for the 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series.^[12] After the opening three races, Dontje switched to the GT Russian Team for the 2015 24 Hours of Spa and remained at the team for the season final.^[13]

With Rowe Racing switching to BMW, Dontje remained in the AMG Customer Sports program with HTP Motorsport for 2016. Dontje ran the full 2016 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup with teammates Luciano Bacheta and Clemens Schmid. The teams best finish was a fifth place at Silverstone. He also made his debut in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring racing with fellow Mercedes-AMG team Black Falcon. The team retired after 57 laps.^[14] For 2017 Dontje switched from the Blancpain Endurance Series to the ADAC GT Masters. With the Mercedes-AMG GT Dontje scored two podium finishes, at Zandvoort and the Sachsenring, to place thirteenth in the series championship.

In 2023, Dontje joined Winward Racing in their expanded GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup effort, competing alongside Philip Ellis and Russell Ward in the Gold Cup class.^[15]

Results

Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2016	Black Falcon	Rob Huff "Gerwin" Abdulaziz Al Faisal	Mercedes-AMG GT3	SP9	57	Ret	Ret
2017	Mann-Filter Team HTP Motorsport	Kenneth Heyer Bernd Schneider Patrick Assenheimer	Mercedes-AMG GT3	SP9	155	14th	14th
2018	Mercedes-AMG Team Mann Filter	Maximilian Götz Christian Hohenadel Renger van der Zande	Mercedes-AMG GT3	SP9	129	17th	16th
2019	Wochenspiegel Team Monschau	Hendrick Still Georg Weiss Leonard Weiss	Ferrari 488 GT3	SP9	152	12th	11th

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Pts
2015	GT Russian Team	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	Pro-Am	NOG QR	NOG CR	BRH QR	BRH CR	ZOL QR	ZOL CR	MOS QR	MOS CR	ALG QR	ALG CR	MIS QR	MIS CR	ZAN QR 13	ZAN CR 9	26th	2

Complete Blancpain Endurance Series results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	Pos.	Pts
2015	Rowe Racing	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	Pro	MON 15	SIL 11	LEC Ret			27th	1
	GT Russian Team	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	Pro-Am				SPA Ret	NÜR 20	14th	24
2016	HTP Motorsport	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Pro	MON 21	SIL 5	LEC 40	SPA 21	NÜR 25	34th	10
2017	MANN-FILTER Team HTP Motorsport	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Pro	MON 14	SIL Ret	LEC 51	SPA Ret	BAR 40	-	-
2019	Rinaldi Racing	Ferrari 488 GT3	Silver	MON	SIL	LEC	SPA Ret	BAR	-	-

Complete ADAC GT Masters results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Pts
2017	Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Junior	OSC 1 15	OSC 2 6	LAU 1 4	LAU 2 10	RBR 1 13	RBR 2 7	ZAN 1 3	ZAN 2 16	NÜR 1 12	NÜR 2 7	SAC 1 2	SAC 2 Ret	HOC 1 11	HOC 2 11	13th	66
2018	Mann-Filter Team HTP	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Junior	OSC 1 6	OSC 2 27	MST 1 4	MST 2 16	RBR 1 9	RBR 2 16	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 17	ZAN 1 26	ZAN 2 5	SAC 1 4	SAC 2 22	HOC 1 15	HOC 2 3	5th	84
2019	Mann-Filter Team HTP	Mercedes-AMG GT3		OSC 1 9	OSC 2 8	MST 1 5	MST 2 6	RBR 1 Ret	RBR 2 2	ZAN 1 Ret	ZAN 2 21	NÜR 1 6	NÜR 2 5	HOC 1 2	HOC 2 7	SAC 1 1	SAC 2 5	3rd	145

References

1. "Coureur: Indy Dontje". Dobla Racing. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
2. "German Kart Championship DSKM 2009 standings". DriverDB.com. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
3. "SKUSA SuperNationals XIV - S1 Pro Stock Moto 2010 standings". DriverDB.com. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
4. "SKUSA SuperNationals XV - S1 Pro Stock Moto 2011 standings". DriverDB.com. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
5. "Starkes Fahrerfeld". ADAC Formel Masters. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
6. "Premierensieg für Malja im ADAC Formel Masters". ADAC Formel Masters. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
7. "Indy Dontje gewinnt drittes Rennen in Oschersleben". ADAC Formel Masters. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
8. "Indy Dontje gewinnt Rennen 3 auf dem Red Bull Ring". ADAC Formel Masters. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
9. "Indy Dontje groeit met Lotus Junior team door naar Formule 3". Autosport.nl. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
10. "Premierensieg für Indy Dontje im ATS Formel 3 Cup" (PDF). Formel 3 Guide. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
11. "F3: Max Verstappen wint met grote overmacht Zandvoort Masters (update)". Autosport.nl. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
12. "Premiere im Flügeltürer - Dontje: Vollgas mit Rowe Racing". Motorsport Magazin. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
13. "GT: Last-minute teamwissel Indy Dontje voor 24 Uur Spa". Autosport.nl. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
14. "44. ADAC Zurich 24h-Rennen" (PDF). 24H Rennen. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
15. Euwema, Davey (March 1, 2023). "Winward Expands to Two-Car Endurance Cup Effort". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved March 1, 2023.