Peter van Merksteijn Jr. (born 1 September 1982) is a Dutch racing driver and

rally driver Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

who will be driving for the

Van Merksteijn Motorsport Van Merksteijn Motorsport is a Dutch motorsport company active in both circuit racing and rallying. Established in 2008, under the ownership of Peter van Merksteijn Sr. and with Gerard Grouve as team principal, this motorsport company won both ...

team in the

2011 World Rally Championship season The 2011 World Rally Championship was the 39th season of the FIA World Rally Championship in automobile racing. The season consisted of 13 rallies, beginning with Rally Sweden on 10 February and ended with Wales Rally GB on 13 November. Sébast ...

. He won the Dutch Rally Championship in 2007 in the

Group N In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing 'standard' large scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specifi ...

class with a

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, popularly referred to as the 'Evo', is a sports sedan and rally car based on the Lancer that was manufactured by Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors from 1992 until 2016. There have been ten official versio ...

. He made his WRC début in 2007 at the

Rallye Deutschland The ADAC Rallye Deutschland is a rally event held in Germany. The event was first held in 1982 and originally hosted by e.g. Frankfurt, Mainz and Koblenz. In 2000, the rally was relocated to the region around Trier. Previously part of the Europ ...

. He is the son of Peter van Merksteijn Sr., who raced in the WRC before and won the

2008 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 76th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place on 14–15 June 2008 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The test day was on June 1. The race was atte ...

in the LMP2 class, using a

Porsche RS Spyder The RS Spyder (Type 9R6) is a racing car designed by Porsche in conjunction with Penske to compete in Le Mans Prototype Class 2 (LMP2) racing. The car takes its name from the legendary Porsche 550 Spyder of the 1950s (combined with Porsche's c ...

Career

Early Career-2007

Van Merksteijn was born in

Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the international Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service. Popu ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He started his rallying career in 2006 with a Renault Mégane and entered in national events. With the help of his fathers team, Van Merksteijn Motorsport with team principal

Gerard Grouve Gerard Grouve (born 13-10-1961) is owner of Grouve Sports Management Group and specialized in driver and team manager. He is best known for his role as team director of the 2008 LMP2 Le Mans winning team of Van Merksteijn Motorsport and their invol ...

, he entered the 2007 Dutch Rally Championship with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. His co-driver was Francis Strikker for the start of the season but Eddy Chevaillier took Strikker's place and has been van Merksteijn's co-driver since. He won the 2007 season in the group N class. In the same year, he made his WRC début at the 2007 Rallye Deutschland. He competed the rally with the Evo IX used in the Dutch Rally Championship. He finished the rally 70th overall. He also competed two other WRC events in the 2007 season, rallying in the

2007 Rally Catalunya Results of Rally Catalunya (''43º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada''), 12th round of 2007 World Rally Championship, run on October 5–7. Results Retirements * Andreas Cortinovis - went off the road (SS1); * Raphael Auquier - went o ...

, and used a

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, popularly referred to as the 'Evo', is a sports sedan and rally car based on the Lancer that was manufactured by Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors from 1992 until 2016. There have been ten official versi ...

for the

2007 Rally GB The 2007 Wales Rally GB (formally known as 63rd Wales Rally of Great Britain) was the 16th round of the 2007 World Rally Championship. The race was held over three days between 30 November and 2 December 2007. Report Sébastien Loeb became world ...

. He finished 29th overall in the Welsh-based round.

2008-onwards

2008 saw Van Merksteijn alter between a number of cars, the Evo VIII and IX's and a

Ford Focus RS WRC 06 The Ford Focus RS WRC is a car built for the Ford World Rally Team by Ford Europe and M-Sport and based on the Ford Focus Climate 2-litre production hatchback, developed to compete in the World Rally Championship. The RS stands for ''Rallye Spor ...

. He also used an 07-spec Focus WRC for the final Dutch Rally Championship round. He only contested in two Dutch Rally rounds, finishing second in both rounds. He contested five WRC rounds in which he only finished one round, the

2008 Rallye Deutschland The 2008 Rallye Deutschland was the tenth round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season. The event ran from August 15 to August 17 and was won by Sébastien Loeb for the seventh consecutive year. The rally marked the first time a driver had wo ...

, finishing 17th overall which is currently his best finish in a WRC event. 2009 was a quiet season from Van Merksteijn. He entered in two Dutch events and two WRC events, finishing 18th at the

2009 Rally Norway The 2009 Rally Norway, officially ''3rd Rally Norway'', is the second round of the 2009 World Rally Championship season and the first round of the Production World Rally Championship and is held between February 12 and February 15, 2009. The rally ...

and retired at the 2009 Rally de Portugal. In 2010 he equalled his best WRC of 17th at the 2010 Swedish Rally. It was the only rally he competed in 2010. He is set to compete in the

with

after originally been confirmed to rally for the Citroën Junior Team. He will be competing in all but three rounds in the next-generation

Citroën DS3 WRC The Citroën DS3 WRC is the World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing for use from the 2011 World Rally Championship season. It is based upon the Citroën DS3 road car, and replaced the highly successful Citroën ...

. He will be rallying alongside father and team owner Van Merksteijn Sr.

WRC results

References

External links

Profile at vm-motorsport.nl

Results at eWRC-results.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merksteijn, Peter Jr. 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Hengelo Dutch rally drivers World Rally Championship drivers