Klaas van Snelheid

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Klaas van Snelheid
Klaas van Snelheid.png
van Snelheid at Downton in 2017
Born (1997-12-19) 19 December 1997 (age 26)
Rotterdam, South Holland,
Netherlands
Related to Jochem van Snelheid (brother)
Formula Virtual World Championship career
Nationality 23px-Flag of the Netherlands.svg-1-.png Dutch
2024 team Downton
2024 car number 1
Entries 118 (118 starts)
Championships 1 (2023)
Wins 29
Podiums 72
Career points 1696
Pole positions 27
Fastest laps 24
First entry 2017 Australian V-Prix
First win 2017 Japanese V-Prix
Latest win 2023 Mexican V-Prix
Latest entry 2024 Australian V-Prix
2023 position 1st (290 pts)
Previous series
2016 FV2 Series
2015 Virtual World Racing Series
2014 FV3 Series
Championship titles
2016 FV2 Series
2015 Virtual World Racing Series
2014 FV3 Series

Klaas van Snelheid (born 19 December 1997 in Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands) is a Dutch virtual racing driver and the 2023 Formula Virtual World Champion. He is currently competing in Formula Virtual for Downton. [1]

He has previously competed in and won the 2014 FV3 Series, 2015 VWRS and 2016 FV2 Series, making him the first driver in virtual motorsport to win multiple series titles.

van Snelheid won his first Formula Virtual race at the 2017 Japanese V-Prix, only his third start.

Personal life

van Snelheid was born on 19 December 1997 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Early career (2014–2016)

FV3 Series (2014)

van Snelheid's first experience in a racing car was in pre-season testing for the 2014 FV3 Series, where he was fastest by seven tenths of a second for DeMarco Team. He later signed a contract with the team and duly took second place in his first race, before taking his maiden pole and win at the second round of the season in Spain. This prompted Formation Competition to spark interest in him and he switched teams ahead of the third round in Portugal, taking a further four victories - two of which were back-to-back wins at his home round in the Netherlands - on his way to a maiden title.

VWRS (2015)

van Snelheid's success saw Formation Competition promote him to the Virtual World Racing Series for 2015, where he endured a near season-long battle for the title with close friend Viktor Östberg. He once again scored a podium in his first race with his maiden victory coming in the first race of the second round. Seven more victories saw him with double that of Östberg come the seasons end and he claimed his second title with an eighty point advantage.

FV2 Series (2016)

Having won VWRS in his first season van Snelheid wanted a different challenge and switched to FV2, remaining with Formation Competition. He took pole for the opening round but once again couldn't pick up his maiden victory until the opening race of the second round in Spain. A further eight victories - including another impressive performance at his home round in the Netherlands where he took a double win - saw him claim an easy title, with nearly double the points of closest competitor Oleksandr Zozulya.

Formula Virtual career (2017-present)

Downton (2017-present)

Early in 2014, van Snelheid was spotted by Team 23 - the teams scouts eager to secure the young Dutchmans signature as a bid for home-grown talent - and he was duly signed up as the first member of their young driver academy. When Team 23 withdrew at the end of 2014, van Snelheid switched to Downton's young driver academy.

2017

On 18 August 2016, it was announced van Snelheid would make his Formula Virtual debut with Downton in 2017, [1] and he participated in practice for the 2016 Dutch V-Prix as a demonstration run. van Snelheid was fifth in his first race but retired while leading the 2017 Malaysian V-Prix, a fate with also later befell his team mate. As has become synonymous with his career though, van Snelheid took his maiden victory in the third race of the season at the 2017 Japanese V-Prix, with two fantastic late overtakes on DS Mathershaw drivers Allar Kangur and reigning champion Adrien Simon.

Helmet

Klaas Helmet 2017.png

van Snelheid's helmet (right, pictured in 2017) strongly shows his nationality, with the base colour being orange, the traditional color of the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange-Nassau. It features a variety of black and white shapes and has his name written in a broken white font on either side. When he joined Downton his helmet gained a black ribbon around the top to accompany the logo of the teams primary sponsor Monster.

In an interview where he was asked which designer he had used and where the inspiration for his design had come from, van Snelheid confirmed he had designed his helmet himself when he was just eleven years old by just drawing what he wanted and liked at the time. He has vowed never to change it throughout his career, except for possibly the odd race to commemorate an event. Since joining Formula Virtual as a race driver the Dutch flag is also featured on both front sides of the helmet in shapes that were originally white in colour, with van Snelheid claiming he hadn't realised until that point he hadn't included his national flag.

Racing record

Career Summary

Season Series Team Name Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2014 FV3 Series DeMarco Team 4 1 1 0 2 48 1st
Formation Competition 14 4 2 5 8 146.5
Macau V-Prix 1 0 0 1 0 N/A 8th
2015 VWRS Formation Competition 24 8 6 1 11 353 1st
2016 FV2 Series Formation Competition 24 9 6 8 13 343 1st
2017 Formula Virtual Downton FV Team 18 6 3 6 11 284 2nd
2018 Formula Virtual Downton FV Team 18 4 0 2 7 213 4th
2019 Formula Virtual Downton FV Team 17 4 4 5 11 236 2nd
2020 Formula Virtual Downton FV Team 16 3 3 4 9 214 3rd
2021 Formula Virtual Downton FV Team 16 2 3 2 9 200 2nd
2022 Formula Virtual Downton FV Team 16 3 5 3 12 255 2nd
2023 Formula Virtual Downton FV Team 16 7 9 2 13 290 1st
2024 Formula Virtual Downton FV Team 1 0 0 0 0 4* 8th*

* Season in progress.

Complete FV3 Series results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos. Points
2014 DeMarco Team GBR
FEA

2
GBR
SPR

9
ESP
FEA

1
ESP
SPR

Ret
1st 194.5
Formation Competition POR
FEA

1
POR
SPR

10
FRA
FEA

7
FRA
SPR

2
GER
FEA

3
GER
SPR

3
AUT
FEA

13
AUT
SPR

1
NED
FEA

1
NED
SPR

1
BEL
FEA

Ret
BEL
SPR

14
ITA
FEA

Ret
ITA
SPR

2

Complete VWRS results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Pos. Points
2015 Formation Competition AUS
1
3
AUS
2
Ret
IND
1
1
IND
2
1
RUS
1
Ret
RUS
2
4
FRA
1
1
FRA
2
4
MEX
1
1
MEX
2
7
USA
1
6
USA
2
4
BEL
1
2
BEL
2
Ret
GBR
1
5
GBR
2
5
BRA
1
1
BRA
2
1
URU
1
Ret
URU
2
5
SIN
1
1
SIN
2
10
ABU
1
1
ABU
2
2
1st 353

Complete FV2 series results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Pos. Points
2016 Formation Competition FRA
FEA

2
FRA
SPR

4
ESP
FEA

1
ESP
SPR

5
GBR
FEA

1
GBR
SPR

4
GER
FEA

3
GER
SPR

1
NED
FEA

1
NED
SPR

1
BEL
FEA

4
BEL
SPR

Ret
ITA
FEA

1
ITA
SPR

Ret
TUR
FEA

1
TUR
SPR

2
SWE
FEA

4
SWE
SPR

2
CAN
FEA

1
CAN
SPR

Ret
USA
FEA

Ret
USA
SPR

9
MEX
FEA

1
MEX
SPR

8
1st 343

Complete Formula Virtual results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 WDC Points
2016 Downton FV Team Downton BD04 Downton DS-2016 AUS
MAL
CHN
JPN
FRA
ESP
GBR
GER
NED
TD
BEL
ITA
TUR
BHR
CAN
USA
MEX
POR
BRA
- -
2017 Downton FV Team Downton BD05 Downton DS-2017 AUS
5
MAL
Ret
JPN
1
CHN
2
FRA
1
ESP
2
GER
4
AUT
1
GBR
2
BEL
1
ITA
1
POR
3
TUR
Ret
BHR
6
CAN
6
USA
4
MEX
1
BRA
3
2nd 284
2018 Downton FV Team Downton BD06 Downton DS-2018 AUS
Ret
JPN
1
CHN
2
MAL
11
GBR
1
FRA
2
ESP
5
AUT
5
GER
Ret
SVK
6
CAN
4
USA
8
BHR
Ret
TUR
7
BEL
1
ITA
4
MEX
3
BRA
1
4th 213
2019 Downton FV Team Downton BD07 Downton DS-2019 AUS
2
JPN
Ret
CHN
1
MAL
1
GBR
5
FRA
2
ESP
13
CAN
3
USA
1
AUT
3
GER
14
BHR
3
TUR
1
ITA
Ret
BEL
2
MEX
3
BRA
4
2nd 236
2020 Downton FV Team Downton BD08 Downton MCL-2020 JPN
3
MAL
4
AUS
5
RSA
5
GBR
3
FRA
3
ESP
3
GER
4
USA
10
CAN
1
BHR
2
TUR
1
BEL
Ret
ITA
1
MEX
3
BRA
10
3rd 214
2021 Downton FV Team Downton BD09 Downton MCL-2021 JPN
2
MAL
1
AUS
Ret
RSA
8
GBR
7
FRA
3
ESP
3
GER
17
UAE
2
TUR
2
BEL
2
ITA
Ret
CAN
2
USA
6
MEX
1
BRA
4
2nd 200
2022 Downton FV Team Downton BD10 Downton MCL-2022 JPN
2
AUS
1
MAL
3
RSA
2
FRA
2
GBR
2
GER
2
CZE
Ret
TUR
4
UAE
2
BEL
Ret
ITA
2
CAN
1
USA
1
BRA
4
MEX
3
2nd 255
2023 Downton FV Team Downton BD11 Downton MCL-2023 AUS
1
MAL
2
JPN
1
RSA
2
UAE
14
FRA
2
GBR
1
GER
1
BEL
1
ITA
Ret
TUR
1
CAN
2
USA
5
MEX
1
ARG
2
BRA
3
1st 290
2024 Downton FV Team Downton BD12 Downton MCL-2024 AUS
8
MAL
SIN
JPN
FRA
GBR
GER
NED
BEL
ITA
KWT
CAN
USA
MEX
ARG
BRA
8th* 4*

* Season in progress.

References