Jos Verstappen Haspengouw Rally: 'Really happy'

Published on 22 February 2025 by Stefan Meens

Jos Verstappen dominated the Haspengouw Rally to win the opening event of the Belgian Rally Championship (BRC). Together with navigator Renaud Jamoul, the Dutchman drove his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 to victory leading by 54.2 seconds after the final stage.

“I’m really happy with this result. At the end we were a little bit more careful to not take too many risks because it was very slippery. It’s easy to make mistakes in those conditions so I’m happy we did it.”

The Dutchman added: “We tested a lot ahead of this event, especially in the dry, so it was a tricky opening round in the wet. Luckily, we added some extra grooves to our tyres so I had some grip.

The Haspengouw Rally consist of 4 stages, contested three times. As the rally gets underway in the morning, the rain is coming down hard resulting in treacherous conditions. The opening stage is won by Emile Breittmayer, with Jos in second. From the second stage, The Dutchman takes the lead of the rally and remains in top spot until the very end. Meanwhile, Breittmayer suffers a puncture, ending his hopes of a good result. “It’s a shame Emile went off track, you have to be really alert.”

After the opening round, completing the four stages for the first time, Jos and Renaud comfortably lead by almost half a minute to second placed Frédéric Miclotte.

During the second round, Jos continues where he left off by clocking fastest times. Behind the leader, the battle for second heats up with Miclotte, Niels Reynvoet and Pieter Tsjoen all vying for the runner-up sport.

During the remainder of the rally, Jos’s lead is never under threat. And after a conservative approach to the last few stages, P5 in stage 10 and P2 in stage 11, Jos and Renaud finish the Haspengouw Rally in style with another stage win. Miclotte and Tsjoen complete the top three.