| HISTORY |
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Peter de Bruijn: the man behind P.D.B. Racing Team The man behind P.D.B. Racing Team is 52 yr. old Peter de Bruijn. Peter started racing go-karts when he was 11. His father Jan had a strong passion for motor racing, and in 1967 took young Peter to the Grand Prix circuit of Zandvoort, where they saw Jim Clark winning. Jan encounter with Ruud Hoffman, who had a homemade chassis powered by West Bend 100cc engine, was a turning point. He bought the chassis for Peter, but before he could try it out, the chassis needed to be serviced, and this is when Peter started to put his hands on a kart. Peter soon got more interested in chassis set-up, expanding his interest to engines at the age of 12. Peter’s talent in setting up the equipment soon raised the interest of other drivers. In 1972, Leo van Calcar from Rotterdam, former 100cc ICA Dutch Champion, saw Peter’s great potential and decided to help him with his engines his driving skills. Despite of his lack of experience, Peter’s improved driving technique soon paid off. At the World Junior Championship in Vojens (DK) in 1972, Peter just missed a podium finish, forced to retire when the sparkplug cap fell off. The following year, at the World Junior Championship in Oldenzaal (NL), Peter was second behind Alain Prost, when bad luck stroke again: his carburettor spindle broke, ending Peter’s dreams of glory. In 1974, beside his own racing activities, Peter worked as mechanic for Aad van Daalen, winning the 125cc gearbox European Championship in Niederkruchten (D) with their own tuned and prepared Yamaha engine. The following year, de Bruijn won the Dutch Championship with his homemade “Bruno” chassis and Komet engines, starting his long list of victories. At the end of the same year, he took up an offer from Holland based Landia karts to race for them, with Kees van den Grint as his mechanic. Peter and Kees collaboration paid off, as they won the Dutch Championship in 1976, 1977, and 1978 on his own chassis, the Concorde. His results didn’t go unnoticed: Dieter Vokinger, owner of Swiss Hutless, offered him to race for his team, and de Bruijn rewarded Vokinger’s trust by finishing 4th at the World Championship in Le Mans (F), and 3rd in the Hong Kong Grand Prix. In 1979, Peter raced karts as well as Formula Ford 1600, where he took 2nd at his debut and a win. In the World Karting Championship in Estoril, while leading in the final, his chain broke with four laps to go. This gave him the motivation to continue racing karts, preferring it to single-seaters. He succeeded in winning the World Championship in Nivelles (B) in 1980, ahead of future F1 World Champion Ayrton Senna, helped by engine tuner Roland Marechal and Kees van den Grint. Peter’s stroke of wins carried on in 1981, with the European ICA Championship title; in 1982, with the European Championship FK-135cc title; and in 1983, as World Junior Champion Frank Eglem’s mechanic. Following these results, Peter started a long working relationship with future Indy and Champ Car driver Paul Tracy and his father Tony to prepare Paul’s equipment. Peter ended his career as driver in 1988, to concentrate solely on the technical side. He continued working as team manager for Swiss Hutless, and in 1989 his driver Jos Verstappen (NL) won the European Championship in both FA and ICA categories, and the Japan Grand Prix. The following year, Peter won again the European FA Championship, this time with Martijn Koene. In 1991, Lotta Hellberg (S) came into Peter's team and life. Using Swiss Hutless chassis and Peter's Rotax engines, she took an outstanding 4th position in the World FK Championship at Le Mans, unprecedented result for a lady driver. Then, in 1992 the big break: in fact, after winning the World Championship with Danilo Rossi (on Crg chassis and Rotax engines prepared by Peter), he made an agreement with Crg to be their "in house" tuner, marking the end of his collaboration with Swiss Hutless. In each race, Peter took care of up to 80 engines used by Crg team. In 1995, Crg and Peter started a new project, the development of Crg own engines, now known as Maxter. During the first year, little progress was made, but results soon followed with Alessandro Manetti, who won the Australian Grand Prix and the Margutti Trophy in Parma in 1996. It was not only Manetti performing well, also Lotta and Giorgio Pantano showed great speed at the Margutti finishing 3rd and 5th respectively, and winning the European Championship round in Lonato (I) in their respective class. The same year, Manetti went very close to winning the World FSA title, but he was pushed off in the very last lap, still managing to finish third. The Team 1997 marks a turning point in de Bruijn’s career, as new plans were made. Peter and Lotta decided to start developing their own kart and run their own team in the following racing season. The main goal was to have more control on racing activities and the development of the equipment. The long business relationship with Tim Gillard persuaded the two to come to an agreement for the development and production of his chassis for the PDB racing team. Newly set-up PDB Kartracing BV took over responsibility of all the sales of Gillard products all over the world, with exception of the UK, making the company sales grow year in year out and Peter De Bruijn (P.D.B.) Racing Team was established at the end of 1997. P.D.B. Racing Team used Gillard chassis, Rotax engines and Bridgestone tires. The drivers chosen for 1998 season in FSA class were Kimi Raikkonen, who performed well the previous year in FA, Lotta Hellberg, at her last season, and Charrel Zwolsman. In FA class, the P.D.B. Racing Team colours were defended by Ross Zwolsman and Benjamin van den Wakker. In its inaugural season, the team did really well: Kimi finished 2nd overall in the European Championship and 1st in the Scandinavian and Finnish Championships, while Benjamin van den Wakker won the Italian Grand Prix and finished 4th in the European Championship. In 1999, Lotta Hellberg retired as driver and took on the position of team manager. This way Peter concentrated exclusively on the technical side of the organization. A change of equipment was made in 1999: Parilla was chosen as new engine supplier. Oskari Heikinnen from Finland replaced Raikkonen in FSA, and two new drivers were chosen in FA: Nicke Petersson from Sweden, and Nicky Pastorelli, who won the Dutch Championship and finished 3rd in the European Championship in ICA the previous year. In the Junior class, de Bruijn selected four new stars: Marco Asmer from Estonia, Carlo van Dam, Bas Lammers and Nick de Bruijn from Holland. The first big success for PDB Racing Team arrived with Carlo van Dam winning the European FA Championship in 2001. Since then, important results year in year out: the 2004 European Championship title with Nick de Bruijn; the 2005 World FA Champion with Oliver Oakes; new star Michael Christensen winning the European Junior Championship in 2005, and vice European FA Championship in 2006. In 2007 Tommy Grice took the vice European KF3 Championship title, and Michael Christensen finished 3rd in the European KF1 Championship. Truly a brilliant result, considering it was the first year that the new KF engine was run. In 2008, more results are to be added to PDB long list of success. French driver Manuel Renaudie ended PDB season with a brilliant 3rd place in the Asia-Pacific KF1 Championship, after finishing 4th overall in the WSK in KZ2 where he grabbed 3rd twice. He also finished 8th overall in the European KZ1 Championship. British driver Jack Hawksworth took a brilliant 2nd and 3rd in the European KZ2 Championship ending 7th overall, Leopold Ringbom finished 2nd in the Viking Trophy for KF2 and 7th in the World Cup for KF2, and Tom Grice won the European KF2 Championship Western Qualification. Results 1998 – With Gillard chassis and Rotax engines FSA: Kimi Raikkonen, 2nd in European Championship; 1st in Scandinavian and Finnish Championships FA: Benjamini van den Wakker, 1st in Italian Grand Prix; 4th in European Championship 1999 - With Gillard chassis and Parilla engines 2000 - With Gillard chassis and Parilla engines FA: Marko Asmer, 8th in World Championship 2001 - With Gillard chassis and Parilla engines FA: Carlo van Dam, 1st in European Championship JICA: Nick de Bruijn, 2nd in Margutti Trophy 2002 - With Gillard chassis and Parilla engines FA: Attila Abreu, 3rd in European Championship 2003 - With Gillard chassis and Parilla engines FA: Teemu Nyman, 1st in European Championship - round in Marienbourg (B), 3rd overall FA: Stian Sorlie, 1st in European Championship - round in Alaharma (F), 9th overall JICA: James Calado, 2nd in European Championship - round in Corridonia (I) 2004 - With Gillard chassis and Parilla engines FA: Nick de Bruijn, 1st in European Championship; 5th in World Championship FA: Teemu Nyman, 5th in European Championship; 9th in World Championship FA: Matthieu Arzeno, 10th in World Championship FA: Oliver Oakes, 15th in World Championship 2nd in World Championship for teams 2005 - With Gillard chassis and Parilla engines FA: Oliver Oakes, 1st in World Championship; 1st European Championship - round in La Conca (I), 4th overall; 4th Italian Open. FA: Valtteri Bottas, 8th in World Champion JICA: Michael Christensen, 1st in European Championship. 2006 - With Gillard chassis and Parilla engines FA: Michael Christensen, 2nd in World Championship; 8th in European Championship; 1st at the Macau GP; 1st in German Championship JICA: Julian Eisenreich, 1st in German Championship. 2007 - With Gillard chassis and Iame engines KF1: Michael Christensen, 3rd in European Championship; 1st in Winter Cup; 1st in German Championship KF1: Julian Mengers, 5th in German Championship KF2: Ramon Kuipers, 3rd in German Championship KF3: Tommy Grice, 2nd in European Championship; 3rd in Italian Open; 1st in German Championship KF3: Viktor Oberg, 1st in Winter Cup KF3: Rene Binder, 3rd in German Championship KF3: Michelle Gatting, 5th in Winter Cup 2008 - With Gillard chassis and Iame engines KZ1: Manuel Renaudie, 8th in the European Championship. KZ2: Manuel Renaudie, 3rd in the WSK – round in Mariembourg (B) and Zuera (E), 4th overall. KZ2: Jack Hawksworth, 2nd in the European Championship – round in Angerville (F), and 3rd in the European Championship – round in Varennes (F), 7th overall KF1: Manuel Renaudie, 3rd in the Asia-Pacific Championship KF2: Leopold Ringbom, 2nd in the Viking Trophy; 7th in the World Cup KF2: Tom Grice, 1st in the European Championship Western Qualification |