Safe to say that Dutchman Rick Bouthoorn is loving his first year in the GT4 European Series Powered by RAFA Racing Club, and has impressed at the wheel of a Razoon – More than Racing BMW M4.
Alongside Turkish driver Önder Erdem the pair have made steady progress to emerge as podium challengers in the Pro-Am category this year. We caught up with him to find out how the season has gone, why he’s more Márquez than Rossi, and why he didn’t race bikes.
Rick, your first year of GT4 in Europe, but not your first in GT4?
“Yeah, I did three years of racing in GTC in Germany with a KTM X-Bow GT4, which is a very different sort of car to the BMW I’m driving now. Moving up to the GT4 European Series has very much been a polarising experience for me. The competition is a lot stronger and it’s so cool to compete at tracks like these against so many great drivers and teams.”
How did you get started in racing?
“Like most drivers you grow up with influence from your parents or friends and my parents are really into motorcycle racing. As a young kid I would go to Assen in the Netherlands a lot to watch the MotoGP and Superbikes events there. I grew up idolising Marc Márquez really looking up to him. I was a big Rossi fan too, which is helpful in this paddock, but Márquez was the main man for me. He was what made me want to go racing. I would play a lot of racing games as a kid, then go some indoor karting lessons one birthday and that went well so I got introduced to a team and that led to a load of different events and several years of competition.”
Were you not tempted to race bikes?
“That’s my mum’s influence! She still struggles to watch the starts in GT4, so there was no way I’d be racing bikes. Plus, we watched a lot of Formula 1 and Le Mans and IMSA, so I’ve always loved endurance racing and that’s what I’ve always wanted to do, plus karting lessons are more accessible than bike racing ones.”
Then you went to America?
“When I was 13-14, I’d already been in karting for a few years and been competing around Europe so the time was right to step up to cars. I tested a lot of formula cars in America. We have a Dutch IndyCar driver called Rinus VeeKay and he did the Road to Indy ladder to make a career for himself, so it made sense to try it. The enticing thing is you win funding at each step to progress. It’s really hard to get the budget for that to get started though, so I also looked at the cup series in Europe like the Porsche Carrera Cup and Lamborghini Super Trofeo, but I found the KTM X-Bow Cup first. However, this was in 2020 so the full championship got condensed to three weekends so we raced twice at the Red Bull Ring and once at Slovakia Ring, but it was enough for me to fall in love with GT4.”
Is that where you met Razoon – More Than Racing?
“Exactly. Razoon were running the KTMs and everything fell together where they had a GT4 available to race in Germany so I took the chance and was ready to get into some more serious competition. I raced that for three years, got a bunch of podiums and a win, plus a load of competition. The KTM was a bit of a strange car, very different from many other GT4s with its size and weight. It felt like I’d outgrown the whole national thing, and to move up the first place you look is here.”
What was the appeal of the GT4 European Series?
“If you look at what SRO has done with GT4 as a whole, particularly in Europe and America, it’s growing so fast now. It’s hard to find anything stronger, with grids that rival GT3. When we knew we would be switching to the BMW for this year I looked at the entry list and saw drivers like Ricardo van der Ende, who has achieved so much with BMW that you think ‘Wow, if I can go up against him, I’m going to learn some stuff’. This is a great step up for me, with a new car and learning so much and competing against some fierce competition. Literally everybody here knows how to drive a race car fast, so it’s tough.”
How have you adapted to the BMW?
“The KTM was so nimble because it was such a small car, but the BMW is just so well engineered. It’s a much newer car with some advanced electronics. I feel I’ve adapted well and the progress myself and Önder have made across the year has been really good. At Circuit Paul Ricard we were about eight tenths off, then that was half a second at Misano and at Spa we were matching the best times in class. I feel we made really good steps with the team, the setup and the operation of the car.”
Do you have a highlight of the season so far?
“Yeah, two: racing at Spa being a big one! I’d never competed there before and I didn’t realise the first race would be run into the night so I had this amazing sunset stint, fighting with the Academy Mustangs, side-by-side into Eau Rouge. It was just amazing. I also really enjoyed Hockenheim, a track I knew really well and we showed great pace on. The BMW was on rails and we went from almost last to P12 overall. It would have been our first podium too, but I went once too many over track limits. But it was still a big morale boost that we are now able to fight for podiums.”
What’s the aim for the final two races of the year?
“To fight inside the overall top 10, which is definitely possible, and going for that Pro-Am podium. Getting a trophy before the end of the year would be great. It’s all about building for next year when the plan is to come back with the Evo BMW GT4 and hopefully be on the podium a lot in 2025.”
