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  Pressrelease_Sezoen_junior_van_Merksteijn_Motorsport_2.doc

Last weekend Peter van Merksteijn jnr. took third place in the Sezoensrally around the Belgian city of Bocholt behind local hero Patrick Snijers and runner-up Erik Wevers. The second Van Merksteijn Motorsport, driven by Bernhard Ten Brinke in his first rally in the Focus WRC, finished the rally in a respectable 7^th position.

Peter van Merksteijn jnr. and his Belgian co-driver Eddy Chevaillier arrived at the start in Bocholt in a Ford Focus WRC 08, a car build according to the very latest specifications with the new and stronger engine as currently used in the BP-Ford cars in the WRC. The Sezoensrally is the second rally in the Dutch Championship and because Peter van Merksteijn had to skip the opening round due to his entry in the WRC Rally Portugal it was important to finish on the podium.

It took a bit of time in the beginning of the rally to get used to the short special stages compared to the long ones he was used to in the WRC rounds. Despite losing some time in the first two stages of the rally, he was in third place during the first service with Melissa Debackere trailing by 6 seconds in the Toyota Corolla WRC and Dennis Kuipers in the Subaru S12B 13 seconds behind.

During the second outing in the morning Peter jnr. found his rhythm and was able to fight with the leaders Wevers and Snijers. Thanks to a fastest time on the 8^th special stage Peter and Eddy had enlarged their gap behind them to over a minute over Mark van Eldik who made his return to the rallysport in a new Subaru S14.

During the second half of the rally, Patrick Snijers with the Subaru S12 was unleashed and both Wevers and Peter van Merksteijn jnr. could not match his pace. Despite that Peter junior set consistently faster times than Erik Wevers in the Focus WRC 06, the gap made in the morning was too big to close and with just 37 seconds behind the number 2, Peter van Merksteijn jnr. was satisfied with his third position on the podium in Bocholt.

"It was a great rally in which Peter jnr. once again demonstrated that he belongs to the top of the Dutch rallysport. Despite that our start was too cautious we are very happy with the third position in this strong field of contestants. The severe accident of René Kuipers and Bart Hissink on special stage 11 casts a dark cloud over this otherwise perfect weekend. We wish them and their families all the best and we hope for a speedy recovery for both of them" concluded team manager Gerard Grouve the day.

Standing after 12 stages:

1 Patrick Snijers (Subaru S12) in 1:24:03
2 Erik Wevers (Ford Focus WRC 06) at 21 seconds
3 Peter van Merksteijn jnr. (Ford Focus WRC 08) at 59 seconds

7 Bernhard Ten Brinke (Ford Focus WRC 06) at 4:27

Standing Rallyclinic Dutch Open

1 Jasper van de Heuvel 192 points
2 Gert Huzink 176 points
3 Henk Vossen 166 points

7 Bernhard Ten Brinke 122 points
10 Peter van Merksteijn jnr. 96 points