Jos Verstappen second in Rallye des Route du Nord

Published on 11 February 2024 by Stefan Meens

Jos Verstappen finished the Rallye des Route du Nord in second place. In their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 car, the 51-year-old Dutchman and his co-driver Renaud Jamoul, were only 8.5 seconds shy of the win, which was claimed by Pierre Ragues.

For Jos it was the first time contesting the rally in the north of France. “It was my first rally of the season and we really used it as preparation of my 2024 campaign. It was a new rally for me, on a slippery surface because of all the rain. But of course, the conditions were the same for everyone. The more rallies I drive, the better the collaboration between me and Renaud. It was a good start and I had fun.”

The day’s running consists out of twelve timed stages split over three segments of four stages each. Jos enjoys a solid start to by clocking the third, fifth, second and fastest time. After four stages, Jos and Renaud are in second place, only eighteen seconds behind Ragues.

In the second third of the event, the duo start with second place, followed by two fastest sections and a fifth place. Although they hold on to second place, the gap to the top of the leaderboard has increased to 22 seconds.

In the closing four stages, Jos claws back just under 14 seconds, by being fastest on stage nine and eleven, and by being second quickest on stages ten and twelve. In the end, Ragues holds on the lead and wins the Rallye des Route du Nord by 8.2 seconds.