Jos fourth in East Belgian Rally: 'Difficult day'

Published on 28 September 2024 by Stefan Meens

Jos Verstappen and co-driver Renaud Jamoul finished the East Belgian Rally in fourth place. The duo contested the round of the Belgian Rally Championship (BRC) in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. “It was slippery all day. I didn’t take too many risks because I realised quickly fourth was the best result realistically. That’s also because we made the wrong tyre choice. It was a challenging day.”

The East Belgian rally consists of four  timed stages that are each contested three times. Ahead of the event, Jos said: “The stages are difficult, although I know two stages from last year. Because you’re driving in the same region, it gives you a feel for it. That experience helps, but with Cherain, Potty and Reynvoet the competition is very strong. Everything has to go our way and it all starts with confidence. Our pace notes are good, and I work well with Renaud.”

The duo kicks off the rally with a second place on the opening stage. “It was tricky with a lot of slippery parts, especially braking into corners”, explains Jos who goes on to be fourth fastest on stages two and three, followed by P3 in the final stage of the opening loop. “We started well, but I don’t have the confidence to fully attack in these tricky conditions.”

Going into the second loop, Jos and Renaud sit in fourth, trailing leader Potty by 26 seconds. It appears to stay dry during the second quartet of timed stages. Jos and Renaud start the loop well with a second fastest time, before adding a fourth, sixth and fifth. “We chose soft slicks, which was the wrong choice as it was still very damp. It’s difficult to drive like that, but we’ll try to make the most of it”, said Jos about the time lost in the middle stages.

On the final loop, contested across the same stages, Jos clocks two P4s, followed by a seventh and fifth place to cement his fourth place. “When we started, it was sunny, so we thought it would get dryer. That’s why we opted for slicks. But at the first stage of the final loop, it turned out to be wet. It was very greasy, so slicks weren’t the right choice.”

At the very front, Potty takes the win, seven seconds ahead of Certain, with third-placed Reynvoet (+1:08) and Verstappen (+1:55) finishing more than a minute adrift.