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Jan Heylen
Nationality	Belgian
Born	(1980-05-01)1 May 1980 (age 45) Geel, Belgium
Current team	Wright Motorsports
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Racing licence	FIA Gold(until 2016, 2022–) FIA Silver(2017–2021)[1]
Years active	2014-present
Teams	The Racers Group, Snow Racing, Park Place Motorsports
Previous series
2012-2013 2008-2013 2010 2006-2007 2005 2004 2004 2003 2003 2001-2002	American Le Mans Series Rolex SportsCar Series Belgian GT3 Championship, Indy Lites Champ Car World Series Eurocup Mégane Trophy International Formula 3000 German Formula Three Formula Three Euroseries Spanish Formula Three BritishFormula Ford
Championship titles
2021 2005 2002	Michelin Pilot Challenge, Michelin Endurance Cup Eurocup Mégane Trophy Formula Ford Festival

Jan Heylen (born 1 May 1980) is aBelgian racing driver, based out of Tampa, Florida.

Heylen began karting in 1992, and worked his way up through various feeder series through the years including the British Formula Ford Winter Series (2000), British Formula Ford Championship (2001), Formula Ford Festival, UK Formula Ford Zetec Championship (2002), Formula 3 Spain and Euro (2003), and German Formula 3 (2004). In 2005, he was crowned theEurocup Mégane Trophy champion. He also won the 2002Formula Ford Festival atBrands Hatch and has competed in theFormula Three Euroseries. In 2004, Heylen drove in the first fourFormula 3000 races of the season withTeam Astromega before being replaced byOlivier Tielemans. Following the changeup, Heylen returned to the German Formula 3 series and finished third in the championship with six wins and eight podium finishes.^[2]

Through still racing in open-wheel machinery, Heylen started adding sports cars to his racing resume in 2005. That year, he also competed in the Eurocup Megane Trophy, earning seven wins. He also participated in the 24 Hours of Zolder, finishing first with Selleslagh Racing Team. The following season, he raced in a one-off atSpa-Francorchamps in Belcar GT, a national sports car racing championship in Belgium, again securing victory. In 2008, he returned to the 24 Hours of Zolder and Belcar GT with AD sport, racing alongside future Porsche Factory driverLaurens Vanthoor. The 2009 season saw his final attempts at the 24 Hours of Zolder and Spa, resulting in a DNF with AD Sport, and a fourth-place finish with Prospeed Competition, respectively. In 2011, Heylen returned to Prospeed Competition, with co-driver Petri Lappalainen, and the pair earned four top-ten finishes in twelve events, with a season-best of seventh place atZandvoort, concluding Heylen's full-season efforts in Europe.

He beat outNicky Pastorelli for the2006 Champ Car World Series season atDale Coyne Racing by bringing sponsorship from the Muermans Group and BergHOFF Worldwide. With Cristiano da Matta as his teammate, Heylen scored a fifth-place finish at the Cleveland Grand Prix, the team's best result to date. Heylen ended the season fourteenth in the standings with a best finish of fifth at theCleveland Grand Prix. He was unable to find a ride for the first three races of the2007 season, but was brought on toConquest Racing to replaceMatt Halliday from the fourth race onwards. Despite finishing second—the team's top finish at the time—atTT Circuit Assen, the race would be his final one for the team as he was replaced for the final two races by funded driverNelson Philippe.

In 2008 Heylen began his North American sports car racing career, driving in the first twoGrand-AmRolex Sports Car Series races, including the24 Hours of Daytona inSynergy Racing'sPorsche 911 in the GT-class. With co-drivers Mark Greenberg, Damien Faulkner, and Lance Arnold, the team finished sixth in class. Heylen returned to the team for the Homestead-Miami round with Steve Johnson, but the pair was unable to finish the race. He went back to Europe in 2011 for a full season in FIA GT, but came back to the United States the following year to compete in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and American Le Mans Series, the top two sports car racing series in North America. In 2012, Heylen competed in aTrans-Am Series race in the GGT class and twoContinental Tire Sports Car Challenge races driving aDodge Challenger, threeRolex Sports Car Series GT-class races in aDodge Viper, oneAmerican Le Mans Series LMP2-class race forConquest Endurance, and onePirelli World Challenge race. After running select races in 2012, Heylen raced the majority of the 2013 season in the American Le Mans Series alongside Mike Hedlund in the JDX Porsche. The pair earned three podium finishes that season at Lime Rock Park, downtown Baltimore, and Road Atlanta's Petit Le Mans.

In 2009 he signed on to compete in theFirestone Indy Lights series, driving for Team E.^[3] However, the team nor Heylen never appeared on track all season. He attended the 2010IndyCar Series preseason meetings withConquest Racing but did not announce a deal with the team.^[4] However, the 2010 season saw him drive forTeam E, which never happened in2009, in the2010 Indy Lights season opener inSt. Petersburg. Ironically, he finished second, as he did inhis final Champ Car race, to Lights rookieJean-Karl Vernay. In 2011 Heylen drove in the 24 Hours of Daytona forStarworks Motorsport and made six starts in theFIA GT3 European Championship for Prospeed Competition and finished 27th in points.

(Formally the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and Pirelli World Challenge)

The 2014 season marked the unification of the GRAND-AM Series and American Le Mans Series, creating the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. With the exception of the Twelve Hours of Sebring, where he ran with RumBum Racing, Heylen ran the entire season with Snow Racing, in a Porsche fielded by Wright Motorsports.^[5] Heylen and co-drivers Madison Snow and Marco Seefried finished in third place in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, as one of only two GTD entries to use only three drivers. Despite only receiving the car weeks before the race, the No. 58 Porsche 911 stayed in the top five for the entirety of the race. The full-season pair of Heylen and Snow returned to the podium again at Road America, then a final time at the season finale, Petit Le Mans, withPatrick Dempsey as the third driver. In 2015, Heylen returned to Wright, running in four races alongside Snow. The highlight of the year came at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, when the pair podiumed for the second consecutive year at the endurance event, this time with co-drivers Patrick Dempsey and Phillip Eng.

While he only competed in one event in 2016, Heylen came back in 2017 with Wright Motorsports for a full season in thePirelli World Challenge Sprint X GT Pro/Am championship, racing alongside Michael Schein. With three wins and seven podiums, the pair finished second in the team and driver championships. He also participated in three IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races with TRG and Park Place Motorsports, earning a best finish of fifth place at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

The 2018 and 2019 seasons brought more partial runs to Heylen's resume, running select events in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, the 24H GT Series at Circuit of the Americas, the Chase for the Trigon Trophy TA2 Series, the IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda, and the Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Pro/Am championships with VOLT Racing, RS1, Wright Motorsports, and Baker Racing.

Despite the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and changes to the racing calendar, Heylen's career gained momentum in 2020, where he raced in two full-season efforts and two partial efforts with three different teams. In the Pirelli GT4 America SprintX, where the format involves two drivers sharing a car for a sprint race, he raced again with RS1 alongside Charlie Belluardo. The pair earned four podium finishes at Circuit of the Americas and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In Michelin Pilot Challenge (formerly Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge), he joined BGB Motorsport with Thomas Collingwood, where the pair had a best-place result of seventh in the 10-race championship. His partnership with Wright Motorsports continued to include three races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and three in the GT World Challenge America Pro/Am Championship. In IMSA, Heylen joined Ryan Hardwick and Porsche Factory driver Patrick Long for three endurance events, earning a third-place finish at Road Atlanta, and the team's first IMSA victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Standing in for full-season driver Max Root, Heylen joined Wright driver Fred Poordad for the Circuit of the Americas doubleheader, bringing the No. 20 Porsche 911 GT3 R to two podium finishes. At the season finale event of the Intercontinental GT Challenge's Indianapolis 8 Hour, he joined Poordad and Root, securing victory in the silver class.

Heylen raced solely Wright Motorsport Porsche machinery in 2021, in what proved to be a stand-out year for the Belgian race car driver. In Michelin Pilot Challenge, Heylen signed for a full season with co-driver Ryan Hardwick, through Hardwick had to withdraw out of two events in which Max Root stepped in. After a series of five podium finishes, the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche earned its first of three victories at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, gaining a foothold in the championship battle against the Turner Motorsports BMW. The championship titles were decided at the season finale at Road America in dramatic fashion when aggressive racing by the BMW withdrew the team from contention and the No. 16 Wright Porsche sailed to victory.^[6] With the win, Wright Motorsports became the Team Champion, and Heylen the Driver Champion. In the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Heylen joined fulls season drivers Patrick Long and Trent Hindman in the No. 16 Porshe 911 GT3 R in the GTD class for the four endurance races, earning a second-place finish at the Twelve Hours of Sebring. The trio finished the year with a fifth-place finish at Petit Le Mans, securing the 2021 Michelin Endurance Cup, the endurance championship title within the full-season championship. In GT World Challenge America, Heylen returned to the No. 20 Porsche 911 GT3 R with Fred Poordad for a full-season, finishing in the top five for all thirteen races. The pair earned the 2021 Drivers' Championship title and Wright Motorsports the Team Championship title. The nine championship titles in 2021 earned Heylen the prestigious Porsche Cup award, an annual honor given to the most successful private Porsche driver since 1970. In addition to a trophy to accompany the honor, Heylen was gifted a new Porsche sportscar as well.^[7]

In December 2021, Wright Motorsports announced Heylen would run another full season alongside Hardwick, racing the No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3 R in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

In addition to being a racing driver, Heylen also acted as Race Director. In 2008 and 2009, Heylen acted as the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup chief driving instructor, overseeing the training of thirty drivers between the ages of seventeen and 26, hoping to make it in professional sports car racing.^[8] The 2008 season was captured and made into aReality television documentary called Racing Under Green.^[9] In the 2019 season, Heylen returned to a management role, joining theMazda Road to Indy'sUSF2000 series as Race Director.^[10]

He currently resides inTampa, Florida.

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2005	Selleslagh Racing Team	Marc Goossens David Hart Guy Verheyen	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	GTA	799	1st	1st
2007	AD Sport	Raf Vanthoor Koen Wauters Kris Wauters	Dodge Viper Competition Coupé	Belcar 1	783	4th	3rd
2008	AD Sport	Patrick Schreurs Koen Wauters Kris Wauters	Dodge Viper Competition Coupé	Belcar 1	657	DNF	DNF

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2008	Prospeed Competition	David Dermont Franz Lamot David Loix	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S	G3	505	16th	4th
2011	Prospeed Competition	Marc Goossens Maxime Soulet	Porsche 997 GT3 R	Pro Cup	331	DNF	DNF
2024	HAAS RT	Simon Gachet Dennis Lind	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	Pro Cup	273	DNF	DNF

Formally TUDOR United SportsCar Championship now IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2022	Demspey-Proton Racing	Fred Poordad Max Root	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GTE Am	340	38th	5th
2023	Proton Competition	Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GTE Am	28	DNF	DNF
Sources:[11][27]

• Media related toJan Heylen at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Heylen's MySpace profile
• Heylen's stats at ChampCarStats.com

• 1980 births
• Living people
• Champ Car drivers
• Belgian racing drivers
• Rolex Sports Car Series drivers
• FIA GT Championship drivers
• International Formula 3000 drivers
• Formula 3 Euro Series drivers
• German Formula Three Championship drivers
• Euroformula Open Championship drivers
• Formula Ford drivers
• Indy Lights drivers
• Eurocup Mégane Trophy drivers
• 24 Hours of Daytona drivers
• Trans-Am Series drivers
• American Le Mans Series drivers
• Sportspeople from Geel
• GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers
• WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers
• 24 Hours of Spa drivers
• 24H Series drivers
• GT World Challenge America drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• Karting World Championship drivers
• Kolles Racing drivers
• Team Astromega drivers
• Dale Coyne Racing drivers
• Conquest Racing drivers
• Porsche Motorsports drivers
• Racing Engineering drivers
• Comtec Racing drivers
• Starworks Motorsport drivers
• Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers
• Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers
• Proton Competition drivers

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