Hartvelt Named New Nielsen Team Principal

Experienced motorsport engineer Ron Hartvelt has been appointed as the new team principal of European Le Mans Series stalwart Nielsen Racing amid the squad’s future “aspirations beyond LMP3 and LMP2.”

Hartvelt has enjoyed a diverse career in motorsport that began in tin-tops with RML in the 1990s working on various manufacturer programs, including the Vauxhall Cavalier and Nissan Primera operations.

While at RML, he was also involved in the initial development of the Saleen S7-R GT before having a stint in Formula 1 in the early days of the Red Bull squad.

More recently he has been part of Cyan Racing’s Volvo and Lynk & Co World Touring Car/TCR programs and has also worked on various projects through his One Group Engineering concern.

Hartvelt first worked with Nielsen last year but has now been promoted to the team principal role with the squad having announced an expansion to running a pair of Duqueine D09 Toyota LMP3 machines in the Michelin Le Mans Cup alongside its two Oreca 07 Gibson LMP2 entries in the ELMS.

“From my first experience with the group, it was clear there is a strong foundation in place, with talented people and a great team culture already driving performance,” said Hartvelt.

“There is huge potential here, and I’m looking forward to building on that as we push to establish ourselves consistently at the front and achieve our long-term ambitions together.”

In addition to the LMP2 and LMP3 operations, Hartvelt also hinted at Nielsen’s future endurance racing goals beyond these categories and said the team is “focused on growing in all areas to be ready for that.”

The team also expanded into single-seaters last year in Euroformula Open with that squad now being rebranded as Northstar Racing.