Overall, we can be happy with the racing activities for the month. Second and Fourth at Spa-Francorchamps were good, as Inter Europol Competition is just two points shy of the race winner, after suffering from some issues in the race itself.

In the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports leads the way, despite an uncharacteristically poor run at Road America.

Attention is now on the forthcoming Mugello round of the Ultimate Cup Series, where we will run two Ligier JS P320S, then our IMSA race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and then back to Mugello for the penultimate round of the European Le Mans Series.

Just in… IEC gains IMSA entry, returning to Asia!!

We didn’t want to wait to confirm this…

Inter Europol Competition will compete in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the team has been assigned the #43.

Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, with the #52 entry, currently leads the LMP2 championship standings and is heading to the next race at Indianapolis.

Additionally, Inter Europol Competition has requested two entries for the upcoming Asian Le Mans Series.

The team last competed in the Asian championship in 2023, securing its first LMP2 victory while challenging for title honours.

Subject to approval, the team intends to run one LMP2 and one LMP3. The six-round championship gets underway in Malaysia in December.

“We’re happy to be back in the Asian Le Mans Series 2024/25, and it’ll be a programme of LMP2 and LMP3,” stated Team Manager Sascha Fassbender. “Additionally, we’re thrilled to be participating in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2025.

“This will be under ‘Inter Europol Competition’, and we will set up our base in the United States for this programme. We’re all looking forward to this new challenge for our team.

“The driver announcements will come later in the year, and yes, we could not be more excited for this new chapter as we continue to perform at such a high level and grow our team,” he concluded.

Leading the way at IMSA

Bronze-graded IMSA racer Nick Boulle leads the Jim Trueman award by ten points from Gar Robinson. The seventh position at Road America could have been better, but the team are confident that the #52 Oreca 07 has the pace and will be a victory contender at the Indy Road Course in September. The team lead the standings with 1564 points, 27 clear of its nearest rival.

While the Indy Road Course does not have the history of circuits such as Road America, or Road Atlanta, the circuit is globally known for the spectacle that is the Indy 500. After two sprint rounds, Jakub Smiechowski returns to the series with teammates Nick and Tom Dillmann on September 21-22.

Spa-Francorchamps, ELMS special mentions

Somewhat lost in the European Le Mans Series race results at Spa-Francorchamps was a great job done in the LMP3 class ahead of two issues that relegated Alex Bukhantsov, Kai Askey and Pedro Perino.
The trio have had little luck in the European Le Mans Series this year and ran a confident third for much of the race, with little credit. They reconvene together to race at Mugello, first in the Ultimate Cup Series and then, later in the month, in their primary European Le Mans Series.

Similarly, the #34 LMP2 had a great race with Clement Novalak, Ollie Gray and Luca Ghiotto. Fourth place was especially impressive given the pit lane issue that saw the team drop to the back of the field. 12 points for P4 probably doesn’t feel great, but given the luck they have endured this year, it was a great result and could have been so much more. Their time will come.

Finishing second, the #43 trio of Sebastian Alverez, Vlad Lomko and Tom Dillmann, also had their issues. The pit-to-car radio hampered strategy, while fuel pump issues meant the team could not trust the fuel readouts on the steering wheel. The result was a car that finished one second behind the race winner, with fuel still on board.”It was a strong race, and my teammates both did a very good job, and we were fully in for the victory fight at the end,” Tom stated after the race. “Unfortunately, we had a fuel pump issue that compromised our strategy and pit time. We lost some time in refuelling due to that. As we finished so close [to the race leader] you have to say that was very costly. It’s always good to finish on the podium, though, and it was a strong performance.”

Doubling up in the Ultimate Cup Series

Inter Europol Competition will field two cars in the Mugello round of the Ultimate Cup Series on September 7-8.

Dane Arendsen (see below) joins the team for his first race with us as he teams up with Sebastien Gravlund and Tim Creswick. The sister car will be piloted by ELMS regulars Alex Bukhantsov, Kai Askey and Pedro Perino.

Did someone say supercars?
The headquarters of Inter Europol Competition were recently visited by the Super Car Club Poland, which brings together lovers of cars and motorsport.Our base was, therefore, the perfect place for club members – McLarens, Porsches and Ferraris were parked in the car park in front of our team and racing fans could see a collection of classic racing cars, taste Inter Europol’s unique baked goods and then head to the garage to see how the LMP3 and LMP2 prototypes are prepared for racing.We love meetings like this, where we can share our passion with enthusiasts. Great atmosphere, great cars and beautiful weather – a perfect combination! We will be repeating it next year!

Introducing Dane Arendsen, our new UCS recruit!

Q) Welcome to Inter Europol Competition Dane. Please tell us about yourself and your motorsport journey so far.

“Thank you very much. So, I started sim racing with a very amateurish simulator in my room when COVID started. There weren’t many other things to do, so I just enjoyed playing F1 2018 all day long. I really liked it and I bought the newest F1 2020 and started competing in online races. I noticed that I was getting quite good, and I really enjoyed racing, so I started doing research on how old you needed to be to get your driver’s license to drive on circuits. I found out that you only needed to be 14, so I started saving up immediately, and sooner or later, I was there on track in a race car for the first time.”

“A month later, when I went to get my European licence, we met someone who was driving a BMW M240i. I really loved the car since it was the best-looking car on track that day. We got in contact, and he introduced me to Dayvtec. Within no time, I had my own car, and I was competing in the BMW Dealer Cup. Dayvtec also has a Ligier LMP3 car, which I could test one day, which went really well. Last April, I drove my first race, and I won it. I felt like there wasn’t much competition here, so I went looking for other options, and now I ended up with the Europol Competition. I’m really excited to be here.”

Q) Outside of racing, you have played ice hockey with success in the past. Tell us about your time at Utrecht.

“I started playing ice hockey when I was about eight years old. I have always liked ice skating, so in winter, I ice skated a lot in Utrecht. One day we had a school day off – a Wednesday – so we went ice skating. On Wednesday, they put some sticks and goals to play ice hockey, and I really liked it.

“My friends and I were talking about it in the cafeteria when a woman came up to me and asked if I wanted to try a training. So, a week later, I came to the training and I really liked the sport.

“After a short period of time, our team became really good, and we became champions of the BeNeLux and even became an elite team. We were unstoppable and won every match we played until Covid hit. People didn’t come to the training anymore and after a short while our club went bankrupt so that is where the story ends.

“On the other side this is only a good thing because that is the reason where my interest and love for racing began.

“Next to racing, I really love being on boats and doing water sports. May it be jet skiing or things like wakeboarding and wake foiling.
I’ve also done those sports since I was very little and got quite good at it. After some time, when I was about eight, I started doing wakeboarding competitions, but I made some really hard falls and got injured time after time, so unfortunately, I had to give up this sport to save my ankles from being torn apart.

“Luckily there are other water sports like wake skating and wake foiling where your feet aren’t connected to the board, so I still enjoy doing these sports to this day.”

Q) The Ligier JS P320 will be new to you at Mugello, but you are familiar with LMP3 competition. Will you use a sim ahead of your first race with us?

“Yes, the JS P320 will be a completely new car for me. I’m not too worried about this because the JS P3 was also totally new to me, and that turned out to be good.

“Also, Mugello is a new track for me just like the car, so I’ve put quite some hours into the sim to get to know the track and how the car behaves on here. I’ve experienced that the LMP3 car has way more downforce than my previous car, of course, so it also takes a lot more physical effort to keep up a good pace in the car.

“Therefore, I have been working out in the gym for the past few weeks almost every day and I went for a run daily.

“The weather forecast in Mugello seems to tell that it’s going to be a very hot week, so I tried to run on the hottest part of the day.
Because of the heat, I’m also focusing on hydration to stay in shape during the weekend.

“I haven’t met my teammates in person yet, but I’ve received a warm welcome online, so I’m very happy about this, and I can’t wait to meet them next week.”

Q) Mugello is a new circuit to us all, with some in the team using this Ultimate Cup Series round as preparation for the forthcoming European Le Mans Series race. For you, is this a one-off, or do you hope to do more with us going forward?

“Yes, for now, this is a one-off for me, but until now, I’ve really enjoyed my time in the team already. I hope I can use the races to show my potential and possibly get a spot in the team to grow to the bigger and faster classes.”

Q) We wish you the very best of luck.

“Thank you. I’m really looking forward to my coming few months at the team and I’ll give it my all. I hope we can achieve some good performances and especially have a good time together.”