Jos second in Omloop van Vlaanderen rally: 'It is the best we could get'
Published on 07 September 2024 by Misha van der Kroon
This weekend, Jos Verstappen and navigator Renaud Jamoul participated in the Omloop van Vlaanderen rally, part of the Belgian Rally Championship (BRC). The 52-year-old driver had a strong start on Friday in his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 car and managed to hold onto his second place on Saturday until the finish. Cédric Cherain and co-driver Damien Withers claimed victory in the Omloop van Vlaanderen with a 33-second lead.
“It went well, but Cherain was fast everywhere and made no mistakes. I am very satisfied with second place. It is the best we could get,” said a content Jos. “Of course, you always want more, and we tried everything, spoke a lot to figure out what we could do to make the car better. But this was the fastest it could go. This was the maximum, and we have to be satisfied with that.”
After the first five stages on Friday, Jos started Saturday in second place for the remaining fifteen stages. It was a sunny day, but after the rain that fell yesterday, it was still damp and treacherous on the track. Right on the first stage, Houthulst, Jos lost 13 seconds to leader Cherain. Jos explained: “We went straight over the grass and had to turn around. Because the sun was in my eyes, I didn’t see it. It’s still incredibly slippery, there’s very little grip. It’s very treacherous, but that applies to everyone, of course. We will try to make up for the lost time.”
At Passendale, Jos finished third, at Zilverberg first, then third again at Rumbeke, and he was the fastest at Zonig. Cherain and Jos were closely matched, and after the first round of stages on Saturday, Jos was 14.5 seconds behind Cherain.
The second round over the five different stages resulted in P5, P3, P2, P4, and P6 for Jos. This allowed Cherain to extend his lead to 23 seconds. Jos commented, “The speed is good. It’s very close, so you can’t afford any mistakes. In the final round, I’ll keep pushing, but with a gap like this, it’s normally not feasible to come back.”
Those words proved true, as the last five stages ended with P4, P3, P4, P2, and P2. Cherain finished 33 seconds ahead, winning the Omloop van Vlaanderen, with Jos Verstappen and co-driver Renaud Jamoul securing the second place.
The next rally Jos will participate in is the Hellendoorn Rally on September 20 and 21, followed by the BRC East Belgian Rally a week later.
