Jos Verstappen and Renaud Jamoul learn about the ERC

The thirst to always aim higher is a family trait among the Verstappen. While Max was finishing the McLaren yet faster than that Red Bull in Japan (see page 28), his father Jos tried his hand at the European Rally Championship (ERC) in Spain (see page 77). A different level than the BRC, the Belgian championship, of which he has been the authoritative leader since the start of the season.

Sadly, Jos Verstappen did not enjoy the same success on the Spanish stages of the Rally Sierra Morena. The father of the four-time world champion F1 was never able to challenge the dominance of Nikolay Gryazin at the wheel of an identical Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.

“We must compare like with like.”, says Renaud Jamoul, the co-pilot of “Jos the Boss”. "The Russian (which now operates under a Bulgarian license. Editor's note) has immense experience while Jos is still a beginner in rallyThe Iberian specials have very little in common with the timed sections of the Flat Country. Riding to the pace notes is more complicated there. Jamoul would have liked to test himself against Maxime Potty, but the latter withdrew (during tests ahead of the Sierra Morena Rally, the Citroën C3 of Maxime Potty and Renaud Herman went off the road at high speed, Editor's note).

The work will be even more considerable during the three gravel rounds visited by the ERC (Hungary, Sweden and Poland), a surface that Verstappen is still unfamiliar with. "There, Jos will also have to work on his driving, sharpen his sense of anticipation to make the car slide efficiently. In addition to the notes that he will have to digest at a sustained pace. But that doesn't scare him. We are here to learn while having fun. He is won over by rallying, he really enjoys driving. This doesn't prevent him from always having a professional approach. He takes care of his physical condition. As soon as he returns to the Netherlands, he regularly gets on his bike for long rides. He wants to feel in shape in the car."