Van Merksteijn Motorsport Rally Australia leg 2 summary
Van Merksteijn Motorsport press release
Photo by: Citroën Communication
Van Merksteijn jr. drives top ten times in WRC Rally Australia
Peter van Merksteijn jr. has regained his normal pace during the second day of the WRC Rally Australia and was able to compete with his Citroën DS3 WRC again with the ten best rally drivers in the World Rally Championship. On the ten special stages of today, the Van Merksteijn Motorsport driver did a good job to secure a good position for scoring points in the manufacturer championship.
After the disappointing opening day of the WRC Rally Australia when Peter jr. was not able to complete all special stages due to multiple punctures, he experienced a relative trouble free second day. Together with co-driver Erwin Mombaerts he left Coffs Harbour this morning southbound for the first 4 stages of a total of ten which were planned for the Saturday.
After the roads had dried again after the rain showers of yesterday Peter jr. set off with a new goal for this event, finishing the rally on Sunday and score the still available points for the championship for manufacturers. During the first run of the 4 special stages Peter jr. was suffering from a lot of oversteer in his DS3 WRC and was not able to set times within the top ten. Back In the afternoon service the mechanics of Citroën Racing gave special attention to improving the handling of Peter's DS3 WRC.
With the alterations to the suspension of the Citroën Peter jr. was in a position to set a good pace during the afternoon stages and scored three times in a row an eighth time in the classification. On the final gravel stage of the day he had to settle just behind Ford driver Al Qassimi with a 9th time for the only Dutch competitor in the event. During the evening two more short super specials were scheduled in the jetty of Coffs Harbour. Although Peter jr. and Erwin gave a nice show for the spectators during their runs of the stage it had no influence on the position in the classification.
"This morning things didn't go exactly how it should have. I suffered from too much oversteer to have a good drive over the stages but during the service the mechanics rectified this problem" according to Peter van Merksteijn jr. This afternoon everything was perfect again. The stages were beautiful and fast and it is really great to drive here. I am happy with how things went today and hopefully we can continue this until the finish tomorrow and score some manufacturer points."
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