Hans Weys jr wins the Zuiderzee rally and crowns himself king of the polder

Last weekend, the Zuiderzee rally in and around Emmeloord marked the first round of the Twinoil Open Dutch Rally Championship. A two-day event that had to contend with a lot of wind, but was held on mostly dry stages. 

Hans Weys jr would finish Friday as leader, followed on finch by Bob de Jong with Belgian co-pilot Bjorn Degandt. Kevin van Deijne who still had some getting used to his new Skoda Fabia R5 ex Rovanpera closed the day in third place. Poulsen also driving a Skoda Fabia R5 had somewhat surprisingly recorded a scratch and followed close behind his brand-mate. The Dane thus proved that he had lost none of his speed after a period of long inactivity. Roald Leemans fared less well with the DS3 R5, which experienced brake problems during the first tests. Finally, things went from bad to worse, a broken part on the suspension caused the DS3 R5 to seek a deep ditch on the last special stage of the day. Immediately the end of Leemans' race.

On Saturday, it appeared that Bob de Jong was pretty well-rested, opening immediately with two scratches and reducing his deficit to 3.4 seconds. Too bad for Bob that two of the four opening trials were cancelled, otherwise there might have been more in it during the opening loop. The remaining tests in the afternoon saw Weys & De Jong divide the scratches neatly between them and two tests before the end the gap is just under ten seconds. Poulsen, meanwhile, had to unload at the front after a puncture while van Deijne mainly came to gain rhythm with a view to scoring in the ELE rally.

With two tests left on the industrial zone, Bob De Jong's newer Hyundai should be slightly faster, but Hans Weys jr had no ears for that. With two impressive scratches, he closed the race as the winner. A fitting tribute and farewell to his Fiesta R5 which will soon be replaced by two Polos R5. With second place, Bob De Jong did take the full spoils in the championship. Van Deijne got to take third place on the podium.

The ConXioN Omloop van Vlaanderen in Roeselare is the fifth race on the programme of the Twinoil ONRK.