Jos competes in GT-race City Challenge in Azerbaijan

Published on 29 August 2012 by Niels Hendrix

Dutch ex-Formula 1 driver and Le Mans class winner Jos Verstappen will be competing in the City Challenge GT Race on a street circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, October 5th till 7th. "I was approached by the City Challenge organisation and their plans sound really fascinating," Verstappen says. "It took me a while to decide, because GT racing is entirely new to me, but I am looking forward to this new challenge!" Verstappen will be racing a Porsche 911 in the Baku event.

From 1994 till 2003, Verstappen raced in Formula 1 with Benetton, Simtek, Footwork, Tyrrell, Stewart, Arrows and Minardi. During his career he scored 17 championship points and two podium finishes. After that, he was a race winner in the A1GP series and won the LMP2 class in the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours, driving the Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder with Jeroen Bleekemolen and Peter van Merksteijn. He also won the LMP2 title in the 2008 Le Mans Series. In 2009 he returned to Le Mans with the Aston Martin Racing works team, which was his last race to date. Since, he has mainly concentrated on supporting his son Max in his go-kart efforts.

"It is a pleasure to see Jos Verstappen joining our event," says City Challenge CEO Hartmut Beyer. "Especially in his home country, he has a large fan base and at 40, he is still far too young to be fully retired from racing." Since the City Challenge Baku event was announced during a presentation at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of last month, four teams with two cars each have already signed up to compete. Vita4One has entered a pair of BMWs Z4 GT3, Vita4One Italy will be racing two Ferraris 458 T3, Reiter Engineering has announced the presence of two Lamborghinis Gallardo LP600 and Mühlner Motorsport will be running a pair of Porsches 911 GT3R. Further entries will be announced soon.

Niels Hendrix