Bleekemolen gets Vectra for home race.

Local hero Jeroen Bleekemolen will graduate to an Opel Vectra GTS V8 for the first time at his home DTM round, which takes place this weekend at Zandvoort on the Dutch coast.

As a junior member of the Opel squad, Bleekemolen had been saddled with the old Astra V8 Coup? so far this season, but tested the Vectra for the first time at Hungary's Pannoniaring a fortnight ago, and immediately expressed his confidence with the new package.

"It's a big step forward." the Dutchman enthused, "I immediately felt comfortable and this session really whetted my appetite for Zandvoort! After those first few laps, I can hardly wait to race."

Bleekemolen's change of mount caused some head-scratching at both Opel and DTM HQ, as the rule book limits the number of engines that a team can use in a season, and the Astra lump could not be shoe-horned into the Vectra.

"The DTM regulations allow a car change without further problems but, during the course of the season, any two-car team is only allowed to use three engines," explained Opel boss Volker Strycek, "We would have fitted the engine from the Astra into the Vectra, but the dimensions of the engine prevented us from doing so. Therefore, we had to find another solution.

"Fortunately, our colleagues from Audi and Mercedes-Benz approved Jeroen's switch to a Vectra GTS V8 with a new engine, without any further consequences for him. This was by no means self-evident, but is another example of the good and co-operative atmosphere that has become the norm in the DTM."

Bleekemolen's entry will continue to operate under the auspices of the Italian EuroTeam operation, and the young Dutchman is hoping that he can turn in a good performance in front of his compatriots in the crowd at Zandvoort.

"When you are racing abroad almost all season, like I am, it is nice to be able to drive in front of a home crowd for once," he admitted, "Being able to drive a new car in front of my home crowd is just great, but you have to bear in mind that the car is entirely new - both for my team and for myself - whereas all the other Opel-teams and drivers have been running with this car all season.

"However, the track is almost in my back yard and, because of that, I can sleep in my own bed during the race weekend. F1 drivers can normally only do that in Monaco!"