Van Kalmthout began karting in 2009 at age eight, winning races in the 4-stroke cadet championship with a DR chassis and finishing second in the championship. He won the 4-stroke cadet series in the 2009–2010 winter season, then graduated to the Briggs & Stratton World Formula 4-stroke class, winning the Dutch and Benelux championships. He won the Dutch Rotax Max Minimax championship in 2012 and the Junior championship in 2013. In 2014–2015 he raced in various Rotax Max series and finished second in the Rotax Max Euro Challenge Senior class, behind Australian driver Pierce Lehane.
Entering American racing as Rinus VeeKay, he signed with Pabst Racing for the USF2000 series, testing the Tatuus USF-17 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He also competed in the final two rounds of the French V de V Challenge Monoplace in an MP Motorsport 2013 Tatuus Formula Renault 2.0, scoring five podiums in six races, and in the Indian and Middle East based MRF Challenge for the 2016–17 and 2017–18 championships.
In the 2017 U.S. F2000 Championship, VeeKay won six races and finished second in the championship behind Oliver Askew. He won the 2018 Pro Mazda Championship with Juncos Racing, then stepped up to Indy Lights for 2019 with Juncos Racing, finishing second in the championship — again behind Askew.
In July 2019, VeeKay was announced for an IndyCar test at Portland with Ed Carpenter Racing, and in November 2019 he was officially signed as the replacement for Spencer Pigot. In his first IndyCar race — the Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway — he crashed in practice, missed qualifying, then crashed out on lap 38 and collected Alex Palou. At Iowa Speedway, Colton Herta launched over VeeKay's car from the rear following confusion over a postponed restart; both drivers were unharmed due to the new laminate aeroscreen introduced for 2020. VeeKay achieved his first top-five IndyCar finish at the IndyGP and his first podium at the Harvest GP.
He was confirmed for ECR in 2021. That season he won the Indy GP, his first IndyCar victory, five seconds ahead of second-placed Romain Grosjean. VeeKay ran as high as fourth in the championship after back-to-back top-ten finishes including a second place at Detroit, before fracturing his clavicle in a cycling accident that forced him to miss the following race at Road America. He re-signed with ECR for another season.
After the 2024 season, in which VeeKay placed thirteenth in the championship with a best race finish of fifth, it was reported by Racer that Ed Carpenter Racing had cut ties with him — a decision that came as a "surprise" to VeeKay, who had been actively negotiating a contract extension.
On 14 February 2025, VeeKay was announced as a full-time entrant at Dale Coyne Racing, driving the No. 18 entry. He was the final driver confirmed on the 2025 IndyCar grid, signing a late-breaking deal after not immediately securing a ride following his ECR departure. In 2025 Indianapolis 500 qualifying he secured his spot through Last Chance Qualifying, edging out his Dale Coyne Racing teammate Jacob Abel. On 20 July 2025, VeeKay scored a second-place finish at the Grand Prix of Toronto — his first IndyCar podium in nearly three years, and his first with Dale Coyne Racing. Shortly after the 2025 season finale, it was reported by Racer that VeeKay had cut ties with Dale Coyne Racing.
On 14 October 2025, VeeKay was announced as a full-time entrant at Juncos Hollinger Racing for the 2026 season.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
