Anthony Kumpen

Anthony Kumpen (born 3 November 1978) is a Belgian professional racing driver. As the overall winner of the 2014 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season, he received his license to compete in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.

Racing career

Kumpen's car after his win in Elite 1 race two at Raceway Venray 2015.

In 1988, Kumpen started Kart racing. He moved on to Belcar, the Belgian Racing Car Championship, in 1998, winning the GT2 championship in his first year, and the GT championship in 1999. He won several more Belgian GT and GTA championships over the next decade. In 2000, he won the overall classification at the 24 Hours of Zolder, a feat he would repeat in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2010 and 2012 for a record total of 6 victories.^[1]

In 2000, he started competing in the FIA GT Championship for the Paul Belmondo Racing team. His first victory in a race in this championship followed in 2002. More victories followed in 2005 (2), 2006, 2008 and 2009 (2).^[2]

He also competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[3]

In 2014, he competed in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series for the PK Carsport team, driving a Chevrolet Super Sport. He won one race in the championship, and ended the season in first place, one point ahead of defending champion Ander Vilariño.^[4]

His win gave him a license to compete in the 2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, racing for Bill McAnally.^[5] On 7 June, as part of the Nexteer Automotive Road To Daytona program, he announced his intentions to compete in the Xfinity Series, running three races at Iowa Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.^[6] In 2016, he announced that he will run the Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona for Precision Performance Motorsports, driving the No. 46 Chevy.^[7]

Personal life

Kumpen is the son of Paul Kumpen, former race pilot, director of the building company Kumpen, and president of VOKA Limburg. Paul Kumpen owned 50% of the shares of Ridley Bikes, and Anthony worked as a commercial director for the company, which became the largest bike manufacturer in Belgium.^[8] Anthony stayed on at the company after his father sold his share in 2013.^[8]

Kumpen lives in Hasselt and is married to Griet Vanhees. They have one child, a son named Henri-Constant.^[9] Kumpen has an older daughter Laura from a previous relationship, and Griet has an older son Thibeau.^[10]

In 2010, Kumpen participated in Sterren op de Dansvloer (the Belgian version of Dancing with the Stars) on vtm.^[11] He was voted out of the show in the third episode and finished as 8th out of 10 contestants.^[12]

Kumpen is the uncle of F1 driver Max Verstappen.^[13]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1 results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	NWES	Points
2014	PK Carsport	24	Chevrolet	VAL 3	VAL 4	BRH 4	BRH 2	TOU 7	TOU 8	NUR 5	NUR 3	UMB 2	UMB 5	LEM 1	LEM 2	1st	656
2015	PK Carsport	24	Chevrolet	VAL 5	VAL 3	VEN 16	VEN 1	BRH 5	BRH 5	TOU 18	TOU 9	UMB 4	UMB 10	ZOL 3	ZOL 3	4th	610
2016	PK Carsport	24	Chevrolet	VAL 1	VAL 4	VEN	VEN	BRH	BRH	TOU	TOU	ADR	ADR	ZOL	ZOL

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NXSC	Pts
2015	Rick Ware Racing	15	Chevy	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	IOW	CLT	DOV	MCH	CHI	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	IOW 28	GLN	MOH	BRI	ROA	DAR	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX			52nd	53
2015	Precision Performance Motorsports	55	Chevy																																PHO 24	HOM 27	52nd	53
2016	Precision Performance Motorsports	46	Chevy	DAY 26	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	DOV	CLT	POC	MCH	IOW	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ROA	DAR	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

Notes

↑ "SPORTWEEKEND: Monza en Zolder". Autowereld.be (in Dutch). 10 September 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
↑ "Anthony Kumpen". driverdb.com. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
↑ "Anthony Kumpen". racingreference.info. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
↑ Estrada, Chris (14 October 2014). "NASCAR: Belgium’s Kumpen takes Whelen Euro Series title at Le Mans". NBC.
↑ "Anthony Kumpen volgend seizoen in het Nascar: "Dit is een unieke kans"". De Morgen (in Dutch). Belga. 18 November 2014.
↑ "Anthony Kumpen To Debut In XFINITY Series". NASCAR Home Tracks. 7 June 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
↑ "NASCAR Euro champion Kumpen to race Xfinity season-opener at Daytona". Motorsport.com. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
1 2 "CEO koopt familie Kumpen uit bij Ridley bikes". Gazet van Antwerpen (in Dutch). Belga. 15 November 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
↑ verhoogen, Inne. "Griet Vanhees is mama van Henri-Constant". Deredactie.be (in Dutch).
↑ jva (4 June 2011). "Racepiloot Anthony Kumpen gehuwd met babe Griet Vanhees". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch).
↑ "Anthony Kumpen" (in Dutch). vtm. 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
↑ "Anthony Kumpen mag niet meer dansen". De Standaard (in Dutch). 16 April 2010.
↑ Bonardel, Cécile (18 August 2014). "Verstappen's son in F1 in 2015". 24h-lemans.com. Retrieved 24 November 2014.

External links

Official website
Anthony Kumpen driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Sporting positions
Preceded by Ander Vilariño	NASCAR Whelen Euro Series 2014	Succeeded by Ander Vilariño

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