Peter van Merksteijn junior had a good second day on WRC Rally Norway

VM.P.Jun03 Peter van Merksteijn junior had a good second day on WRC Rally Norway

Photo: ©willyweyens-rallyworld

During the second day of the WRC Rally Norway around Hamar, Peter van Merksteijn lost a lot of time while his son Peter van Merksteijn junior managed to regain some of the time he lost yesterday by driving consistent and cautiously. The team of Van Merksteijn Motorsport gained a lot of experience during today’s 118 kilometer special stages on the snow covered forest stages between Hamar and Lillehammer.

Ford Focus WRC 07, number 23, Peter van Merksteijn - Erwin Mombaerts

Peter van Merksteijn and Erwin Mombaerts lost a lot of valuable time today as they had to stop three times to clear the air intake of the engine from accumulated snow after they had hit a snow bank with the Ford Focus WRC 07. “As a result of the design of the air intake on the Focus WRC, the air filter for the engine becomes completely covered in snow and ice when you touch one of the snow walls along the stages. During the 45 minutes of service this will be modified as it cost us a lot of time today” told Erwin Mombaerts. “Apart from that we went of the road once and that we had to stop today 3 times to clean the air filter we had a good day. I enjoyed the stages today and learned a lot” according to Peter van Merksteijn.

Ford Focus WRC 06, number 22, Peter van Merksteijn junior – Eddy Chevaillier

After the technical problems with the clutch yesterday Peter van Merksteijn junior and Eddy Chevaillier had a trouble free second day in the WRC Rally Norway. Driving a steady pace without taking too much risks, Peter junior realized excellent times on today’s 8 stages including a 13^th time in the morning. “We had a great day today without any significant problems. In the morning I had to go off the throttle when my dad drove right in front of me after his excursion into the snow bank and because of all the snow dust I couldn’t see a thing. Me and Eddy had a lot of fun today in the car on the beautiful special stages”

Despite the lost time of over 12 minutes by Peter van Merksteijn in the Focus 07 with number 23, father and son are looking forward to the last day of the first proper snow rally in which they take part. Tomorrow there are only 6 stages planned but with a total distance of 126km it is the longest distance of stages of this rally. At 06:20 the first driver will leave the parc ferme for a brief service of 15 minutes to return to the Viking ship in Hamar for the podium ceremony around 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

VM.P.Sen04 Peter van Merksteijn junior had a good second day on WRC Rally Norway