Dutch championship, Valkenswaard

Kuijpers, Snoeijers, Sterkens and Maris Sr. winning at the Eurocircuit.

The third round of the Dutch championship was almost a copy of the second race for the championship in May, if one looks at the final results of the Dutch Eurocircuit. Jos Kuijpers, Luc Maris and Marcel Snoeijers claimed, like in May, a win in the Supercar 4wd, Supercar 2wd and Super1600 class. At the TouringCars it was ‘good old’ Jos Sterkens who took the win ahead of Mandy Kasse. With heavy rainfalls in the morning and later during the day sunshine and a dry track. The weather was comparable to the second race in May.

On pole in the Super1600 was Marcel Snoeijers who missed the race for the European championship in France. Snoeijers: “There are so many races these days, that there is nearly no time to keep the car in good shape. We decided to stay at home and concentrate on the Dutch championship and make the ‘to-do-list’ for the car a bit shorter.” The break and the extra maintenance brought the Renault Clio of Snoeijers with two fastest times on  pole position in the Super1600 category. Straight from the green light Snoeijers was in front and not one moment he was in ‘danger’. Behind him, in the middle of the pack, in the first corner the Renault Clio of Dave Van Beers hit the Honda Civic of Pedro Cokelaere. While the rest of the bunch was driving away, Cokelaere was struggling to get his Honda back on the track. The car stopped in the middle of the track. Just a small opening gap for a racingcar on the in- and outside. No red flag, the Clerck of the Course decided to let carry on racing. That gave the frontrunners a ‘little shock’ when they came out of the chicane and saw the Honda in the middle of the track. Peter van de Wege: “I had no idea what was going on. I was chasing the Clio and saw at the last moment the Honda on the track. I followed Snoeijers who went to the outside.” Also the winner of the race Marcel Snoeijers said that the situation was a ‘narrow escape’ for the drivers. “That Honda on the track was indeed a big surprise for me”.  The Civic suffered a broken driveshaft and problems with the gearbox when he was left behind by his driver. The race for the championship is going on between Marcel Snoeijers (Renault Clio) , Davy Van Den Branden (Citroën C2) and Peter van de Wege (Toyota Yaris). Snoeijers and Van den Branden can only bring in one more result, the race of July 17. Van de Wege can still add 2 results, 1 from Holland and 1 from Belgium. The Dutch championship runs 4 races in Holland and one can bring in 1 foreign (Belgium) result. 5 results with 1 to drop is the final result for the Dutch championship.

In the Supercar 2wd there was again nothing to do against the supremacy of the Volvo S40 in the hands of Belgian driver Luc Maris. Kristof Bex (Volvo S40) was the man who got closest to Maris Sr. while Steven Maris (Volvo 242) claimed third place. In the Supercars 4wd it was Jos Kuijpers in the Ford Fiesta who took the lead in the A-final. Patrick Van Mechelen pushed his Subaru Impreza to the limit. “Today Jos was just a little bit faster than me,” said Van Mechelen after the race. The Subaru crossed the line 6 tenths of a second later than the Fiesta. Wil Teurlings left the A-final after two laps with technical problems. “Probably a broken driveshaft,”  said Teurlings.

• Supercar – Final Results:
• 1. Jos Kuijpers (I) Ford Fiesta VII
• 2. Patrick Van Mechelen (B) Subaru Impreza
• 3. Wil Teurlings (NL) Volvo S40 I
• Super1600 – Final Results:
• 1. Marcel Snoeijers (NL) Renault Clio II
• 2. Peter van de Wege (NL) Toyota Yaris I
• 3. Leo van der Eijk (NL) BMW Mini Cooper
• 4. Dave Van Beers (B) Renault Clio II
• 5. Davy Van Den Branden (B) Citroën C2
• 6. Pedro Cokelaere (B) Honda Civic EK4
• 7. Christoph Chalmet (B) Rover MG ZR
• 8. Marc Vleeschouwers (B) Toyota Corolla
• TouringCar – Final Results:
• 1. Jos Sterkens (B) Volvo C30
• 2. Mandy Kasse (NL) Opel Astra G
• SuperNational – Final Results:
• 1. Luc Maris (B) Volvo S40 II
• 2. Kristof Bex (B) Volvo S40 I
• 3. Steven Maris (B) Volvo 240
• 4. Filip Baelus (B) Volvo C30
• 5. Johan Kwinten (NL) BMW E30
• 6. Marc Vandenbergh (B) Seat Ibiza II
• 7. Johan Sleeckx (B) BMW
• 8. Ludo Triekels (B) BMW E30

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