06-08-2008

M-Sport Ford Focus RS WRC to reach record in Germany:

Thirteen M-Sport built Ford Focus RS World Rally cars will contest the tenth round of the FIA World Rally Championship next week – a world record for the WRC class. ADAC Rallye Deutschland will also set the scene for a showcase of M-Sport’s most recent customer teams from The Netherlands.

The event will see no fewer than five Dutch crews behind the wheel of a Focus RS in what has become quite a family affair for the nationality. Competing in their recently purchased 06-evolution cars are the father and son pairing of René Kuipers and Dennis Kuipers with Dennis contesting his first ever WRC event.

Peter van Merksteijn will contest his sixth WRC event in Germany, this time behind the wheel of the first 07-evolution Focus RS made available to a privateer, handing the reins of his 06’ Focus RS to new team-mate and son Peter Jr. While Peter Jr has firm WRC event experience behind the wheel of a GpN class vehicle, this will be his first attempt in the WRC class.

The fifth Dutchman to enter the event with a Focus RS is Erik Wevers who is also overseeing the running of both Kuipers cars under his Wevers Sport banner. Both van Merksteijn cars will be run by the van Merksteijn Motorsport outfit.

Despite not being run by M-Sport’s on-event WRC arm, all five crews will have access to top-class M-Sport engineers who will be on-hand to offer advice on car setup and assistance in the case of any possible technical issues during the rally.

Along with the three crews from current championship leaders the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team and four from the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team, the event also sees Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen in a Focus RS WRC.

3.   Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Abu Dhabi Ford Focus RS WRC 07
4.   Jari-Matti Latvala BP Ford Abu Dhabi Ford Focus RS WRC 07
7.   Gigi Galli Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus WRC 07
8.   Francois Duval Stobart VKM-Sport Ford Focus WRC 07
15. Henning Solberg Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus WRC 07
16. Matthew Wilson Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Focus WRC07
19. Andreas Mikkelsen Ford Focus RS WRC 06
21. Khalid Al Qassimi BP Ford Abu Dhabi Ford Focus RS WRC 07
23. Erik Wevers Ford Focus RSWRC 06
24. Peter van Merksteijn Ford Focus RS WRC 07
26. Rene Kuipers Ford Focus RS WRC 06
28. Peter van Merksteijn Jr Ford Focus RS WRC 06
29. Dennis Kuipers Ford Focus RS WRC 06

Bron: M-Sport

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