NLRC: Jansen takes Eurocircuit

Category: April, Miscellaneous, News Posted 17.04.12 19:50 by Eddi Laumanns

Belgian Jos Jansen won the SuperCar class in the first round of the Dutch Rallycross Championship while Marcel Snoeijers claimed the Super1600 category and Christ Moelands made TouringCars his.

The first round of the Dutch Rallycross [aka RallyRacing] Championship as usual attracted more Belgians than home drivers and at the end of Sunday April 15 it was a Belgian who picked the Dutch laurels for the SuperCars. Runner-up became Rallycross veteran Wil Teurlings (brother of 1975 European champion Kees Teurlings) and third place went to Jan van Loon. Master of the House Jos Kuijpers, who is racing with an Italian licence as well as having, beside the Dutch one, an Italian passport these days, had to throw in his towel rather early. After the first qualifying heat the engine of his Ford Fiesta Mk7 was found defective and “Giuseppe” urged to turn from competitor to spectator.

2004 and 2005 European Rallycross Champion in Division 1A, Dutchman Ron Snoeck, was also forced to call it a day when the Seat Leon Mk2 SuperCar driver failed to set a second time in the qualifying heats. Coming back from the first runs with a broken turbocharger the team left out the second heat to prepare the car for the last qualification chance. However, soon after the start of the third heat Snoeck found himself back in the sandtrap beside the track. The Seat driver later claimed that he had a short contact with the Ford Focus of Jos Jansen while entering the first corner to lose control over his Leon, resulting in a championship event without points.

The TouringCar class saw an A final with four starters, but eventually just BMW 1-series driver Christ Moelands made it to chequers. While Mandy Kasse, daughter of former European champion Ko Kasse, had to give up with a serious engine breakdown (hole in the block), Koen Pauwels faced clutch problems with the rented Volvo C30 of Jos Sterkens and Louis de Haas was hampered by a defective steering of his Opel Astra G-type. In the Super1600 class it was Marcel Snoeijers (Renault Clio Mk2) who won the A final from dog-hounding Peter van de Wege (Toyota Yaris Mk1) and Davy Van Den Branden (Citroën C2).