Jos Verstappen breaks his silence after ‘huge’ rally crash

Michelle Foster
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Jos Verstappen

Jos Verstappen

Jos Verstappen says he and his co-driver Jasper Vermeulen were fortunate to escape without injury when they suffered a “huge impact” at the Rallye de Wallonie on Sunday.

Verstappen and Vermeulen were contesting the Loyers stage when the former F1 driver clipped a tree and rolled his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.

Jos Verstappen escapes Rallye de Wallonie crash unhurt

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Former F1 driver Verstappen has been taking part in rallies in recent times, keeping his hand in the motor racing game.

Verstappen, who is the reigning Belgian Rally Champion, partnered with Vermeulen temporarily for this past weekend’s event as his normal co-driver, Renaud Jamoul, is unavailable while he recovers from surgery on an ankle injury.

Their event, though, came to a premature end.

Out on the course in the Loyers stage, Verstappen, who was running in third place, clipped a tree that ripped a wheel off the car and rolled the Skoda onto its roof.

The car came to rest overturned.

Both Verstappen and Vermeulen were able to extract themselves from the wrecked vehicle, neither having suffered an injury.

The crash meant their rally was over.

Verstappen concedes he may have taken the corner on the dusty road a “bit too fast”.

“It was a right-hand bend that I had to take in fourth gear. It was dusty, there was gravel on the surface,” he told the Belgian Rally Championship’s Instagram channel.

“I think I went into the corner a bit too fast, and at the end of the corner, the car broke away. Then we hit a post.

“The post whipped the car around, and then we landed on the roof.”

He added: “The most important thing is that Jasper and I came out of the car safely.

“It was a huge impact.

“But we sit in such safe cars, that shows again. I’m glad we came out of it well.”

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Jos Verstappen

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