Rookie of the Year: Mees Houben closes debut season with award and strong results

Mees Houben has ended his debut season in the GT4 European Series with the Rookie of the Year award. The prize was presented after the final round at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão, where Mees and co-driver Lachlan Evennett also confirmed Speedy Motorsport as the best Toyota team of 2026.

The weekend did not start smoothly. A red flag during Mees's flying lap in qualifying left him without a representative time, and a subsequent grid penalty for exceeding the speed limit under the red flag pushed the pair to the back of the grid for Race 1.

From there, the recovery was impressive. In Race 1, Mees started from P26 and brought the car into the pits in P9. Lachlan Evennett took over and moved up to seventh at the flag — first Toyota in the field and fifth in the Silver category.

Race 2 followed a similar pattern. Lachlan started from P13 and handed over in P11. Mees pushed the car forward and crossed the line in seventh.

After the chequered flag, the Rookie of the Year award capped a season that included a podium on debut at Paul Ricard, a podium at Misano and second place at home at Zandvoort.