page_title: BRL V6
section_title: Original series
hierarchical_section_title: BRL V6 / History / Original series
caption_attribution_description: De BRL V6 van Donald Molenaar
context_page_description: The Benelux Racing League V6, better known as BRL V6, was a touring car racing series held in The Netherlands and Belgium between 2004 and 2009. It is the heavier variant on the BRL Light. For 2010, BRL cars were allowed into the Dutch Supercar Challenge.
context_section_description: The BRL V6 was first  launched, as the V6 Oval Series, in July 2003. Entrepreneur Harry Maessen founded the racing series and a test was conducted at his own racetrack, Circuit de Peel. The car made its competition debut in the Dutch Winter Endurance Series New Years race at Circuit Park Zandvoort 2004. Drivers Jeroen Reijntjes and Sandor van Es placed the car on pole position, but technical difficulties prevented a strong finish.
  The inaugural season, 2004, featured four race weekends. The series competed at Spa-Francorchamps, Zolder, Zandvoort and Oschersleben. The initial calendar also featured oval races at Raceway Venray and a new to construct oval in the German Ruhr. These did not take place. Cor Euser, racing a Jeff Gordon resembling paint scheme, won the first pole position. Donny Crevels and Duncan Huisman won the first two races at Spa.n Facing heavy competition from Euser and Thomas Mutsch, Crevels went on to win the inaugural season.
  The level of competition went up the following year with Kurt Thiim and Jeroen Bleekemolen joining the series and Xavier Maessen and Marc Goossens making guest appearances. The BRL V6 field was joined by the BRL Light class. The class was the successor of the previous VEGE Series (2000-2004) and featured a less powerful Ford Duratec engine. For the inaugural BRL Light season the series kept their VEGE Series Ford Sierra bodywork before switching to a Ford Fiesta bodywork in 2006. Bleekemolen joined the US Carworld team as its sole full-time driver. The 2004 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters driver won eleven out of fifteen races, dominating the championship.
  For 2006 a number of technical improvements were made to the car. The car received a softer compound of Hoosier slicks. Also cooling to the brakes was improved. The Collé Racing domination started in 2006, lasting until the final season of the original season in 2009. Collé Racing driver Sandor van Es won the championship in 2006 before teammate Donald Molenaar won the series in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Early in the 2006 season Collé Racing faced stiff competition from Eurotech Racing drivers Marc Goossens and Danny van Dongen whom competed for podium finishes. The series also competed during the 2006 A1GP weekend at Zandvoort. Prominent guest drivers joined the series, such as Junior Strous and Jan Lammers. Lammers scored a seventh place in the first race with Crevels winning both races.
  The BRL joined the Belgian and Dutch rounds of the 2007 Champ Car season at Zolder and Assen. Collé Racing continued reigning supreme in 2007 with Molenaar winning six races and Sandor van Es winning four races in the fourteen race season. The other four races were won by Bleekemolen (who ran a partial schedule) and Donny Crevels, two each. The final races of the season, at Zandvoort, were marred by an incident involving 2005-2006 BRL Light champion Marijn van Kalmthout. During qualifying Van Kalmthout went off track in a yellow flag zone almost hitting a rescue vehicle and marshal. Van Kalmthout was disqualified for the remainder of the weekend. The disqualification had no effect on the championship standings were Van  Kalmthout remained third.
  For 2008 the schedule was reduced to twelve races, with Molenaar again winning eight and the championship. In 2009 Donny Crevels beat Collé Racing driver Sandor van Es for the second place in the championship. At first it was announced the series would race at Racepark Meppen, also owned by series founder Harry Maessen, but the track was not built in time for the race weekend.
caption: 2007, 2008 and 2009 champion Donald Molenaar
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