Dilano van 't Hoff

Dilano van 't Hoff (26 July 2004 – 1 July 2023) was a Dutch racing driver who was the 2021 F4 Spanish Championship champion. He died in a multi-car collision in a Formula Regional European Championship race at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

Karting
Van 't Hoff started his international karting career at the age of eleven, competing in the SKUSA SuperNationals. The Dutchman finished third in both the IAME Euro Series and IAME International Final in 2018, the same year in which he finished sixth in his first season of the European Championship. He ended the following year fifth in the same series, this time in the OK class, and won the Trofeo delle Industrie with Forza Racing.

Lower formula
In 2021 Van 't Hoff made his single-seater debut with Xcel Motorsport in the Formula 4 UAE Championship. His season started successfully, as, despite stalling at the start of the first race, the Dutchman was able to come back to second in that race and would go on to win the following two races, having started both from pole position. Van 't Hoff was then able to extend his gap to his nearest rival Enzo Trulli by winning two more races at the next round at Yas Marina. After another win at round three in Dubai Van 't Hoff would lose his gap to Trulli thanks to a disqualification in the final race of the penultimate event, stripping him off another podium and more crucial points for the championship. He would go on to eventually lose out to Trulli by just one point in the final round.

For his main campaign, Van 't Hoff joined MP Motorsport in the F4 Spanish Championship. His first two wins came at the first round of the series at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, and Van 't Hoff then went on a run of six podiums in a row, including three wins and a triple podium at Algarve. He scored his next victory in the sprint race at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo after original winner Daniel Macia had been given a penalty for extending track limits, and followed this up with another podium in the third race. At the penultimate round of the season, Van 't Hoff completed a hattrick of poles and race wins, thus winning the championship.

2021
In September 2021, Van 't Hoff made his debut in the Formula Regional European Championship, racing for MP Motorsport on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo as a guest driver.

2022


For 2022, Van 't Hoff competed in the Formula Regional European Championship for the full season with MP Motorsport. A shoulder injury forced him to undergo an operation during the season, causing Van 't Hoff to miss several weekends. When he returned, the Dutch driver managed to score a podium at Barcelona, which helped him to 19th in the standings. Later it would be revealed that Van 't Hoff had been driving the car effectively one-handed, as the original surgery had caused complications, with a loose plate and broken screws forcing him to undergo a second surgery during the winter.

2023
Van 't Hoff returned to FRECA with MP Motorsport for the 2023 season. Before the Spa weekend, the Dutchman had scored two points finishes, taking a best result of seventh at Imola.

Death
On 1 July 2023, Van 't Hoff died in a multi-car crash in a Formula Regional European Championship (FRECA) race at Spa-Francorchamps in heavy rain. The multi-car crash occurred at the exit of Raidillon, just before the Kemmel straight, which involved Joshua Dufek, Adam Fitzgerald, Enzo Scionti, and Tim Tramnitz.

Van 't Hoff lost control entering the Kemmel straight, before his car was struck on the side by Fitzgerald's vehicle. A minute of silence was observed at the 24 Hours of Spa race that weekend, along with the coinciding Austrian Grand Prix. Many people in the motorsport community paid respect to Van't Hoff.

Lance Stroll said that the accident was unnecessary and called for changes to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, referencing the fatal accident of Anthoine Hubert at the same corner in 2019; Max Verstappen joined him in calling the accident "sad and unnecessary" but stopped short of blaming the circuit's design, saying "it is easy to blame the track but looking at how wet it was and these kind of things we have to look at it for the future to look at what we can do better to protect drivers".

Racing career summary
† As Van 't Hoff was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete F4 UAE Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete F4 Spanish Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Regional European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † As Van 't Hoff was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. ‡ Did not finish, but classified.

Complete Formula Regional Asian Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

† Did not finish, but classified.