Jos ends opening day of Ypres Rally in eighth place

Published on 26 June 2026 by Misha van der Kroon

Jos Verstappen has finished the opening day of the Ypres Rally, a round of the Belgian Rally Championship (BRC), in eighth place overall. Together with co-driver Renaud Jamoul, he was still able to take part in the event despite crashing his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 during Thursday’s qualifying stage. The damage was too extensive to be repaired on-site, leaving their participation in doubt for much of the day. However, a replacement Skoda was prepared at the last minute and, after being approved by the organisers before the start of the rally, Jos and Renaud were able to take their place on the starting list.

Starting 33rd on the road due to not setting a qualifying time on Thursday, Jos posts the nineteenth-fastest time on the opening special stage, Kemmelberg, after a small mistake along the way. On stage two, Zwarte Berg, he improves to tenth, and on the third stage, Reninge, he sets the ninth-fastest time. After three stages, Jos and Renaud have climbed to fourteenth overall.

Zonnebeke, the fourth and final stage of the first round of the day, sees the duo record the eighth-fastest time. That moves them up another two places to twelfth overall at the end of the first round. With several non-BRC competitors included in the entry list, Jos is at that moment running in tenth place among the Belgian Rally Championship contenders.

The second loop gets underway with another solid performance in the Sarrazin Motorsport-prepared Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. Jos sets the ninth-fastest time on the second time over Kemmelberg, gaining a further three places in the overall standings.

Stage six proves decisive for Lander Depotter, who had started the stage in fourth place overall before crashing out, bringing out the red flag. On the penultimate stage of the day, Reninge, Jos records the tenth-fastest time, moving up to eighth overall. At the front, Stéphane Lefebvre and Hayden Paddon continue their battle for the lead, separated by less than a second, while Maxime Potty holds third place, sixteen seconds adrift.

The final stage of the day is a second run through Zonnebeke, where Jos sets the seventh-fastest time. He ends the opening day of the Ypres Rally in eighth place overall. The rally continues on Saturday with thirteen special stages still to come.