Realistic VeeKay remains satisfied despite finishing 19th at Long Beach
Rinus 'VeeKay' van Kalmthout has finished the third race of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series in 19th place. Starting from 25th on the grid, it proved difficult to get to the front in the narrow streets of Long Beach. Nevertheless, VeeKay remained satisfied.
In the fiercely competitive IndyCar field, the wealthy three-car teams fight for the top prizes while the smaller two-car outfits of outliers and mavericks aim to achieve day-to-day success. Dale Coyne Racing, which has been Rinus VeeKay’s employer since February, is a team that falls into the second category. At the inaugural race in St. Petersburg, everything fell into place thanks to VeeKay’s excellent form, resulting in a fine ninth place at the finish. A few weeks later at the Thermal Club, Coyne sent their Dutch lead driver out on the wrong rubber while sat in P8, and as a result the day ended on a sad note. This is the typical up-and-down results pattern of a small IndyCar team.
However, following those two top-ten appearances, the Dutch/American combination of VeeKay and Coyne was halted in their progress during the third race weekend of 2025. The venue for this race was the famous street circuit of Long Beach. While the big teams monopolised the front grid positions, VeeKay had to settle for 25th place – not a place that reflected his ambitions, but nonetheless a fair representation of the Coyne car’s lack of pace. Both VeeKay and his team-mate Jacob Abel were unable to make any progress on the soft tyre in qualifying, leaving the pair to watch on as the competition proved faster.
Usually, a crazy race with lots of cautions and chaos is the best opportunity for a team like Coyne when confronted with these issues, as you cannot expect miracles in the narrow city streets of Long Beach, especially under green-flag conditions. In those conditions, there is every chance of a stalemate as seen at the Monaco F1 Grand Prix every year. This time, however, there were no yellow flags, as for the second IndyCar race in succession no neutralisation occurred at any point. Good for the leaders, who were not distracted by any interruptions, but less so for the drivers behind them, as they had no opportunities to make any strategic moves.
VeeKay could only focus on driving a flawless and consistent race, and the askROI.com Dale Coyne Racing Honda #18 driver did just that. The Dutchman delivered very consistent lap times, and combined with the Coyne crew’s well-executed pit stops, VeeKay managed to overtake six rivals, a fine performance in an all-green race. The result was 19th place.
“This weekend was a bit tougher than the previous two,” said VeeKay after the California event. “Starting 25th after a tough qualifying session, you’d think on a street circuit you’d still get a yellow flag, so we could play with strategy, but that didn’t happen. We stayed consistent and the pace was good because I was on the lead lap even though I was 19th. There was nothing more I could do in this close-bunched field,” said a realistic VeeKay.
“This weekend the car simply wasn’t fast enough. It is what it is. Sometimes we are going to have weekends like this and we have to be able to deal with it. We will not be racing for the top-ten every weekend, IndyCar is far too competitive for that. As crazy as it sounds, I was happy with our team's performance during the race. That’s because we made the best of it. We knew it was going to be difficult, but we kept our cool and didn’t make any mistakes. This is important because it gives us encouragement for the weekends when our pace is better. Head down and on to the next race,” said VeeKay.
The next race will be held on Sunday 4 May at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, where VeeKay took pole position three years ago. Shortly after 19:30 Dutch time, the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix will start, which can be followed live on Ziggo Sport.