Jos Verstappen takes victory at Rally of Wervik: 'Happy with this'

Published on 13 June 2026 by Florence Cobben

Jos Verstappen and his co-driver Renaud Jamoul took victory at the Rally of Wervik in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 car prepared by Sarrazin Motorsport. The Verstappen Racing pairing recorded the fastest time on six of the twelve special stages.

“It was a shame about the puncture and flat tyre, as things were going reasonably well,” Verstappen said in the morning, following their first stint. “We’re testing a few things and hope to continue on at the same pace.”

The pair were able to keep a good thing going in the following stints and outcompete the rest of the field. After crossing the finish line, a pleased Verstappen chimed in: “We are very satisfied with this win. We managed to improve the car throughout the day, it feels good. We’re happy with this."

The Rally of Wervik served not only as preparation for the Ypres Rally in two weeks' time, but also as Jamoul's first time stepping back in the car for a competitive session since suffering an ankle fracture.

The Rally of Wervik is comprised of twelve special stages across three different circuits: Geluwe (15.59 km), Wervik (9.60 km), and Kruiseke (8.56 km). During the first stage, Verstappen immediately gets hit with bad luck, suffering a puncture. Davy Vanneste goes fastest, with Verstappen coming home in fourth, at a distance of 9.8 seconds to first place. During the second stage, Verstappen was again lagging behind the Belgian, but had decreased the distance to two-tenths of a second. Stage three saw Team Verstappen Racing nine-tenths behind, leaving them a total of 12.7 seconds adrift at the end of the first stint.

The tables begin to turn during the second stint. Vanneste, driving a Citroën C3 Rally2, suffers a puncture and loses a lot of time, while Verstappen goes fastest in all three stages. Halfway through the rally, Team Verstappen Racing is leading, 20.5 seconds ahead of Bjorn Syx.

The third stint opens with Verstappen again setting the fastest time on the Geluwe circuit. Vincent Verschueren rises to the challenge by going a few tenths faster on the other stages. Nevertheless after nine stages, Team Verstappen Racing is still leading the Rally by 28.5 seconds ahead of Syx (Toyota Yaris) and Verschueren (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2).

In the final stint, Verstappen extends his lead to the rest of the field by going fastest in stages ten and eleven. However in the twelfth (and final) stage, Verscheuren goes half a second quicker than the Dutchman. At the end of the Rally, Verstappen and Renau Jamoul took victory by over 39 seconds to Syx in second, and 50 seconds to Verschueren in third.