If you looked up the word tenacity in the dictionary, do not be surprised to see a picture of Dutch racer Michael Vergers there. The now 53-year-old is still winning races in the GT2 European Series some three decades after bursting onto the racing scene and into the UK consciousness with some swashbuckling in British Formula Ford.
Vergers, who grew up in Spain, knew the writing was on the wall for his single-seater career in the mid-1990s. A season in the Formula Opel Euroseries and a foray to the States in Barber Saab failed to spark the interest – or the funding – that he needed to push his way to the top.
Instead, he forged a sportscar racing path and went on to tackle Le Mans on four occasions as part of a six-year stint in the Le Mans series.
Through his extensive coaching abilities, Vergers formed a successful partnership with Danish businessman Juan Barazi and that led him to his long-distance glory (including the 2006 LMS LMP2 crown) as well as outings at Goodwood, which were all punctuated by a stint of road rallying…yes, really…
Vergers spent 10 years working in Saudi Arabia with the emerging talent in the region and he has now relocated to Spain, which is where we caught up with him. We’re grateful for his time.
Question: What prompted you to go karting in the first place? Were you encouraged by your family?
James Hilton
Via email
Michael Vergers: “It all came from my dad. As a 17-year-old, he headed up the Stirling Moss Fan Club in Holland, so he was very into his motor racing although he was never able to afford to take part himself. He had all these press clippings and cuttings sent over and he would collate them all. He ran the club with Hans Hugenholtz Jr, who was the son of Hans Hugenholtz who had originally designed the Zandvoort track among others. My dad and Hans even got media passes to go to the Dutch GPs.
“Eventually, we ended up moving to Spain when I was about three-and-a-half years old and we ended up living next door to James Hunt. We were on a small hilltop and there were just two houses – his and ours – and one shared driveway, so of course we got to know him very well. He was obviously gallivanting around the world and being his playboy self all the
