I’m Sebastian van Dongen, a motorsport photographer from the small town of Etten-Leur, located in the Netherlands. What makes my homeplace so special is that it is in the center of some of the most legendary circuits of all of racing.
Within a radius of 3 hours, I can find myself at Circuit Zandvoort, TT Assen, Circuit Zolder, and the infamous Spa Francorchamps.
Since 2020, I have found my love for motorsport. It all began when I was incidentally watching the Bahrain race of Formula 1 when I saw the huge crash of Romain Grosjean. I witnessed silence fall on the track, and every team was hoping that the driver was alright.
This showed me that even though all these drivers are competing to be the fastest, they are still doing this together. This, combined with the fact of seeing man-made machines reach those high speeds, is something I instantly loved.
I got to be on the circuit for the first time during track days at TT-Assen because of a colleague from work. I got the stand behind the barrier and see the speed of racing from just footsteps away.
This experience for me was one to never forget. Since then, my love for motorsport has grown even bigger. Whenever there is an event at Circuit Zandvoort, I pack my stuff and make the trip, as it is only around a 2-hour drive.
My goal is to shoot for many big racing classes like Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship.