December 05, 2004
Mapes-VO already secured Matt Hunt and Toby Lock as test drivers, but Mapes-VO had a press conference scheduled in the Dutch Mapes-VO office in Rotterdam and the rumour was Peter van Oostende signed a new driver. This came a bit as a surprise because it was only yesterday when Maple Matt announced the ?final? line-up. So the press was quite curious who the new driver could be.

When there was a brief silence van Oostende started talking: ?Ladies and gentlemen, welcome in Rotterdam. The rumors are true, we did sign another test driver, who will also be the squads third driver. I met him this year at the Belgian GP. He was going very well in GPChampionship at that time and made it champion in the F3000 division over there, so we know we got ourselves another great, fast and especially consistent driver. Yes, it?s Haiko Benthem I?m talking about. We talked about a possible drive for Mapes-VO for a while and Haiko was very interested. And today when we had a talk again we reached an agreement. Right now I can say we got our test team complete, so let the testing begin!?

Also Bethem had a few words to say to the press: ?I?m really happy to drive for this team. There?s a great atmosphere here and because racing would be a bit too much for me at the moment, I?d be more then happy to be test driver at Mapes-VO. I made this promise to Peter at the Belgian GP and I?m happy we reached an agreement. I?m already looking forward to the first test, can?t wait to drive in a Mapes-VO!?

After the brief press conference and answering the questions both Benthem and van Oostende signed some autographs outside on the famous Coolsingel where a lot of fans were welcoming the newly signed Dutchman.