The two Dutchmen from the More Motorsport by Reiter team shared a Ligier JS P320 in the 2023 Prototype Cup Germany. And they did so successfully, each winning a trophy. Max and Mark discuss their triumph, as we take a look at their profile.
It was a great success for Max van der Snel (20/NLD) and Mark van der Snel (52/NLD). Sharing the driving duties in a Ligier JS P320 for More Motorsport by Reiter, they each won a title in the Prototype Cup Germany, which is organised by the ADAC and Creventic. Max van der Snel was crowned champion in the Junior competition – his father, Mark, triumphed in the Trophy class. “To both claim a title in the same car is very special for us – something we will not forget for the rest of our lives,” says Mark van der Snel proudly. “When we started the 2023 season, we never thought it could be so successful. It could not have worked out better.”
The father/son duo only moved into LMP3 racing in the 2023 season, meaning they first had to familiarise themselves with the 455-hp prototypes. However, they did so impressively from the outset. Both Max and Mark van der Snel were consistently among the front-runners in their respective class throughout the entire season. “2023 was our first year in this kind of race car. However, we coped well from the word go and were on the money in terms of our pace. We were obviously very pleased about that. Particularly as the opposition was extremely strong in the Prototype Cup Germany,” says Max van der Snel.
The highlight of the 2023 season was definitely the race win on the Sunday of the final event at TT Circuit Assen. “We were not really competitive in the first race. As a result, we made a few changes to the set-up for race two. It worked better then,” explains Mark van der Snel. “I was a bit lucky at the start of the race. There was a crash in front of me, but I found a way through the situation. After that, I had pretty good pace and was able to hand the car over to Max in a promising position. He stepped up to the mark and brought home the win. It was absolutely unbelievable.”
Max van der Snel first took his place in a kart at the age of four. At seven, he intensified his hobby by regularly training at an indoor kart track. The following year, Max started to contest his first outdoor karting competitions in the Netherlands. However, Snel junior hung up his helmet for a while at the age of twelve and tried his hand at other sports. However, sim racing meant he never really lost touch with motorsport. In 2021 and 2022 he returned to the racetrack. Like his father Mark, he spent both years racing in the Westfield Cup – a Dutch clubsport racing series.
“We then decided to step up to the LMP3 class and the Prototype Cup Germany in 2023. For two reasons: we were able to share a car and also take the first step towards endurance motorsport,” says Max van der Snel. The 20-year-old has also just completed his first year at university, where he still has a further two years of his race engineer course remaining.
His father Mark is 52 years old and a businessman in the IT industry. He started out in motorsport in 2002, when he acquired his racing licence. However, it was 2012 before he really started racing competitively, when he lined up in the Radical-Cup BeNeLux. There was then another break from motorsport, before Mark van der Snel joined his son Max in the Westfield Cup in 2021 and 2022. The pair also spend a lot of time together away from the racetrack, as they both enjoy kite surfing.
The successful Snel duo would like to start in the Prototype Cup Germany again in 2024. “We learned a lot in 2023 and want to build on that experience,” says Mark van der Snel, giving an insight into their current plans. Son Max agrees: “The goal is to share a cockpit in the Prototype Cup Germany again next year. We feel right at home in the series and want to achieve more success together.”
