Driven

View Original

Jos Verstappen to compete in British Rally Championship race in Wales

Jos Verstappen will compete at the Severn Valley Stages leg of the British Rally Championship (BRC) in Wales on Friday 12th April.

Verstappen, father of Red Bull’s Formula 1 racer Max, raced in F1 between 1994 and 2003. He has also made appearances at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2008 and 2009 as well as the now-defunct A1 Grand Prix for Team Netherlands.

His venture into rallying began with a single appearance at the 2022 Ypres Rally stage of the World Rally Championship and will bring that experience to Llandrindod Wells on Friday for the BRC’s second round. He will be racing over 62 miles on the gravel in a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 along with co-driver Renaud Jamoul.

Verstappen told the British Rally Championship website:
“We are very happy to come to Wales and the British Rally Championship,”
“Renaud [Jamoul, co-driver] has done Wales Rally GB several times but for me, these stages will be the first.”

“I only started rallying two years ago but only with tarmac events. After two test sessions in the wintertime in the south of France, we have decided to do our first proper gravel rally and as Renaud has some really good memories in Wales, this rally was looking like the best one to start with.

“We will get some good advice from Tom Cave during our PET [pre-event-test] in Sweet Lamb and we will try to do our best. There is no plan in terms of performance because it will be my first time on gravel but for sure the target is to improve and be as close as possible to the top guys.

“The entry field will be again really competitive, so we are looking forward”.

The Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages kicks off with a ceremonial start in Llandrindod Wells from 18:30 on Friday 12th April, before the action gets underway the following day.

words: Mike Booth
pictures: Red Bull