When the 2018 GT4 European Cup season gets underway at Zolder in Belgium on 7 and 8 April, defending champion Max Koebolt and Simon Knap will be racing with the coveted starting number 1. The Dutch duo will be on the grid with a BMW M4 GT4 run by MDM Motorsport. Driver Max Koebolt leaves no doubt about his ambitions for the upcoming season: “Of course, I want to defend the championship title, which will be a huge task in such a strong field, but that is why it is so nice.” Team-mate Simon Knap adds: “We will do everything we can to compete at the front of the field.”
For MDM Motorsport, that has its headquarters in Badhoevedorp near Amsterdam, participation in the strongly contested GT4 European Series marks a new chapter in the team’s history. Earlier, MDM Motorsport ran BMWs in the Belcar series, DNRT competition, the Supercar Challenge and the Creventic series. “We also have some years of experience in the GT4 series in which we have had quite some success, but this is the first time for us as a team to run our own cars in the series,” says Dennis Bus, who runs the team together with his brother Mark. “We have worked with Max and Simon before so we will build on that this season. The BMW M4 GT4 is a fantastic new product by BMW Motorsport with which we will be able to shine.”
Up-and-coming Dutch youngster Max Koebolt was one of the revelations in the GT4 European Series last year, winning the overall championship title, the Northern Cup and the junior title at his first attempt. With his team-mate, he also ended up first in the BMW Sports Trophy, the worldwide competition for privateer BMW drivers, in which over 700 drivers participated. “Of course, I will try to defend my European title. Moreover, I will try to score as many points as possible for the BMW Sports Trophy again,” Koebolt says. He doesn’t rule out participation in selected additional races next to his GT4 European Series campaign.
Simon Knap started his career in single-seaters before making the switch to GT racing. Among others, he raced in the strongly contested ADAC GT Masters in Germany, in which he won his home round at Zandvoort in 2012, an achievement he rates as one of the highlights of his career. In 2015 and 2016, he already was a front-runner in the European GT4 series and after a year of racing at national level, he is now making his comeback in European GT4. “With Max as my team-mate and with the strong MDM Motorsport team, we have a good package to do our utmost to race at the front of the field,” he announces.
The GT4 European Series season gets underway with a pair of races at Zolder in Belgium, 7 and 8 April. Next up are rounds at Brands Hatch (5 and 6 May), Misano (23 and 24 June), Spa-Francorchamps (21 and 22 July), the Hungaroring (1 and 2 September) and the Nürburgring (15 and 16 September). The organisers have announced an entry of 47 cars, the maximum grid capacity at some of the circuits. Nine brands and ten different types of GT4 cars are represented in the field.
