Jos Verstappen fifth in Saarland-Pfalz Rally: 'I had a great time'

Published on 20 August 2023 by Stefan Meens

Jos Verstappen and co-piloot Renaud Jamoul finished fifth at the Saarland-Pfalz Rally. The event, part of the German Rally championship, was held over two days featuring ten timed stages.  

Jos Verstappen told Verstappen.com: “I had a great time. It’s a beautiful rally with great stages, especially the combination of tarmac and corners in mountainous terrain. It’s completely different to Belgium, but I really enjoyed it.” 

The Dutchman continued: “Everything went well, we had no punctures or mechanicals. The car felt good and so was the set-up. It was a nice rally and I’d love to come back. This is one of the nicer ones.” 

With Jos facing tough competition from the regular front runners in the German championship, he was happy with his performance. “Those guys know the stages inside out, that’s the experience I lack. But I’m happy with fifth, we finished were we should’ve.” 

The Friday featured four timed sections spread over two stages, Haupersweiler and Rundkurs Windpark. With a sixth, fifth, sixth and fourth place, Jos ended the day trailing the lead by 34 seconds. 

On Saturday, six timed sections were scheduled across three stages; Urexweiler, Westrich and Rundkurs Rödelstein. With four P5s, a sixth and a fourth, Jos finished the rally 1:24min adrift of overall winner Marijan Griebel and Tobias Braun in there Skoda Fabia