Jos wins Hellendoorn Rally: 'We were driving on the limit'
Published on 21 September 2024 by Misha van der Kroon
Jos Verstappen and his navigator Renaud Jamoul have won the 42nd Hellendoorn Rally. After a strong start on Friday evening, where the duo led the standings, they managed to finish the job on Saturday in their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 car. Despite losing time due to a flat tyre, Verstappen was the fastest in ten of the sixteen stages. Verstappen and Jamoul ended the rally, which lasted a total of 1 hours and 23 minutes, with a 5.5-second lead over Bernhard ten Brinke and co-driver Davy Thierie.
“Fantastic,” Jos said after his victory in the rally. “We had to stay concentrated during all ten stages today, and drive on the limit. We were a bit lucky as well, and the cooperation with Renaud was great. We have good fun and enjoy it. Bernhard ten Brinke has a lot of experience here, and he kept fighting us. It was exciting until the last stage, everything could happen. We had to keep pushing, but we made it.”
Renaud Jamoul adds: “It was a good rally. I’ve been working with Jos for two years know, so we know each other well. The conditions were tricky, with a finish in the dark, which was not supposed to happen, but we were late. It was tricky until the last meters, but we did it.”
Verstappen and Jamoul ended the Friday with a 4.1-second lead over Ten Brinke. The rally continues on Saturday morning with the stages Notter and Hellendoorn, both of which were run twice. With two fastest times, Jos extended his lead over Ten Brinke by 1.8 and 3.0 seconds respectively, leading the standings by 8.9 seconds.
Unfortunately, disaster struck during the second time on the Notter stage: due to a flat front-left tyre, Jos drove nearly five kilometres on a rim. He lost over 19 seconds to Ten Brinke, who took the lead with a 10-second advantage. However, Jos did not give up and drove very well during the second Hellendoorn stage, immediately gaining back 5 seconds.
“We lost a lot of time due to that flat tyre,” Jos said after the second Hellendoorn stage. “But there are still six stages to go, so anything can happen. It’s going to be exciting; we’re going to fight for it.”
The last six stages were run over Ypelo, Beuseberg and Stokkum. In Ypelo, Jos was once again the fastest, gaining four seconds on Ten Brinke, who was now leading with only 1.3 seconds in the overall standings. Jos also took P1 in Beuseberg, gaining another 1.5 seconds on Ten Brinke. This brought Verstappen back into the lead, albeit by only 0.2 seconds. In Stokkum, he gained another 1.3 seconds, giving Jos a 1.5-second lead over Ten Brinke when going into the last round of stages.
The second and final time around Ypelo, Beuseberg and Stokkum, Jos was fastest in the first two stages, increasing his lead to 6.3 seconds. On the last stage, he lost six-tenths to Ten Brinke, but he still had a 5.5-second lead over Ten Brinke in the overall standings. This means that Jos Verstappen and Renaud Jamoul impressively claimed the victory of the 42nd Hellendoorn Rally.
