Photo by: XPB Images
Peter van Merksteijn jr. to tackle difficult WRC Rallye de France
This weekend Peter van Merksteijn jr. will take the start in the second tarmac rally of the 2011 World Rally Championship, the Rallye de France. From the rally center in Strasbourg Peter jr. and co-driver Erwin Mombaerts will compete with the Citroën DS3 WRC against the other WRC drivers for the valuable championship points.
Prior to the WRC Rallye de France, Peter van Merksteijn jr. added an extra event to his calendar which consisted of only World Rally Championship events. For the most important rally in Holland, the Hellendoorn Rally, Citroën Racing made a C4 WRC available for Peter jr. To compete with the tough entry list of the event consisting of 9 World Rally Cars including the latest specification Fiesta WRC of Dennis Kuipers. With a gap of 1 minute and 15 seconds, the Citroën driver was too fast for the competition and Peter jr. Took an overwhelming victory in this rally.
The Rallye de France is only the second tarmac rally in this season's WRC and is known as being a difficult event. The previous rally on tarmac, the Rallye Deutschland was a success for Peter van Merksteijn jr. where he finished in 9th position and scored his first championship points in his career. Thanks to his great performance in Germany, the team of Peter jr. In the WRC received a great moral boost and currently plans are being made for a possible continuation of his WRC activities in 2012.
It will be the second time that the Rallye de France will be held in the wine making area of the Alsace and is often compared to the German rally in the World Rally Championship. With the extra confidence Peter jr. Received through his achievement in Trier and victory in the Hellendoorn Rally, the young Dutch driver will start the event with co-driver Erwin Mombaerts for what promises to be a beautiful but also a very difficult rally. "Despite that this event is often compared with the Rallye Deutschland it is a completely different rally. The stages are very difficult and with the deep drops lining the roads it will be necessary to drive very cautiously" according to Peter van Merksteijn jr.
The Rallye de France starts Friday morning just before 8 o'clock for the first of eight special stages of that day. On Saturday the drivers have to tackle another 8 stages plus a short spectator stage in the town of Mulhouse. On Sunday the last six special stages are planned including the Power Stage in Hagenau, the birth place of fellow Citroën driver and reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb.
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