Robert Doornbos is hoping he has better luck on land than on sea after being beaten yesterday by a pair of future stars from the Champ Car Atlantic series.

Doornbos, Katherine Legge, Tristan Gommendy and Dan Clarke were soundly defeated on the water by Road America Atlantic winner Franck Perera and Dutch ace Junior Strous.

The drivers were "captaining" Dutch botters – 19th century sailing boats used for fishing in the traditional Netherlands village of Spakenburg.

The drivers were joined on water by local media and corporate sponsors of this week's Assen event – the Bavaria Beer Champ Car Grand Prix of Holland presented by Audi, Gant, Hertz, Jumbo and Pioneer.

With Perera and Strous teamed up on the newest boat – the youngsters raced away from the start. While their boat may have been new, even their racer is more than 100 years old

Holding between 12-14 people, the "botters" were first used in the 1800s in Spakenburg – located about 50km from Amsterdam.

"I have actually never been to this part of Holland before - It was really fun out there. Our boat set the pace early, feeling comfortable, we had a good set-up, especially when we stole the wind away from everyone's sails at one stage," Doornbos said.

"I tried everything I could to try and cheat, even throwing a rope out at a container ship to tow us along.

"I'm really looking forward to the weekend in Assen. I have a couple more days of PR activities – Bart Rietbergen and everyone has done an amazing job in promoting the race. It is going to be really special."