The racing careers of HSR stalwart Craig Watkins and coach and co-driver Johannes van Overbeek have been intertwined since the early 2000s, dating back to their time
together at Flying Lizard Motorsports.
The duo enjoyed considerable success throughout their partnership, with Watkins serving as race engineer and van Overbeek behind the wheel, two important parts of
one of sports car racing’s most successful modern-day teams. Watkins, van Overbeek and their teammates earned numerous victories and podiums in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and in international competition at such premier events as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Today, Watkins and van Overbeek have come full circle, transitioning from an engineer-driver relationship to sharing the cockpit in HSR competition, where they continue to add to their long list of accomplishments.
“It is pretty unique,” Watkins said. “I hadn’t thought about it in that way, but it is. I mean, in 2003 you can’t envision this kind of thing happening, but it’s pretty cool.”
Among the duo’s highlights were a third-place finish in the GT2 class at the 2005 Le Mans 24 Hour as well as top-three finishes in both the ALMS GT2 driver and teams.
championships for three consecutive seasons from 2004 – 2006.
“For me, our professional racing journey started a couple years before 2003,” said van Overbeek, who won the prestigious Porsche Cup in 2007 as the top non-factory
Porsche driver in the world. “To be back at the same track at Watkins Glen earlier this season where we won our very first kind of big pro race together is kind of a coming
home of sorts.”
Looking back, the duo shares several fond memories from a partnership that produced success at some of sports car racing’s biggest events.
“First thing that comes to mind to me is hard work,” Watkins said. “I was brought into something that I had never done before professionally, so I was on a steep learning
curve, and Johannes was patient with me. And just over every race, we got a little better, a little better, a little better, and it just built by itself.”
The success and memories they built at Flying Lizard Motorsports are difficult to match.
However, the duo has found new life in their racing relationship through HSR, competing together in a variety of Porsche machinery spanning multiple eras. They
secured a Group A podium this past June at the HSR Watkins Glen Classic 6 Hour presented by Mission Foods aboard the 901 Shop 1968 No. 46 Porsche 911 S/T.
“It brings you back to where you started,” van Overbeek said. “It’s relaxed, it’s fun, and you don’t have the pressure and the commotion that comes with pro racing. It’s just for pure love of driving the cars and the camaraderie. We’re great friends, and doing this is just an extension of our friendship and our shared experience. We’re both doing something that brought us together in the first place. When I was 18 and he was 38, you know, we’re still doing the same thing that united us all those years ago.”
Next up on the HSR calendar is the HSR Classic Road Atlanta 10 Hour presented by Mission Foods and the HSR Atlanta Fall Historics, September 17 – 20, at Michelin
Raceway Road Atlanta.
