Not only is Max Verstappen lining up for a race this weekend, but his father, Jos Verstappen, is also behind the wheel, participating in the ERC Rally of Poland. The rally driver finished the first day of the fourth round of the European Rally Championship (ERC) in fifteenth place. “We are gaining a lot of experience here too,” the Dutchman remains positive.
Senior Verstappen is participating in the rally with his regular co-driver Renaud Jamoul. The first qualifying stage and classification test were already run on Friday, while seven tests over three different stages and the qualifying stage were scheduled for Saturday. After the first loop, Verstappen was sixteenth in the overall standings. However, the driver quickly gained experience and was able to improve after the second loop. Verstappen even came second during the short Mikolajki Arena test. Thus, the Dutch driver and Renaud finished Saturday in fifteenth place. The Latvian driver Martins Sesks is in the lead.
‘Much to Learn’
“It was a big challenge because we don’t know the stages,” Verstappen tells Verstappen.com. “But I do like driving on sand and gravel, and the car felt good. We are gaining a lot of experience here too and learning a lot, so hopefully, it will go better next year when we come back here. It’s difficult, you need a lot of confidence, but that’s why we’re here. It’s a big learning process that we’re going through and hopefully making the best of.”
Verstappen himself noticed that his second lap went much better, once he was familiar with the terrain. “We have made progress, as we were about ten seconds faster at every stage. Things were already improving, even though there is still a lot of progress to be made. I have to process a lot of notes, which I’m still struggling with here. There’s a lot to learn.” The ERC Rally of Poland continues on Sunday, with six more stages on the schedule.
Jos Verstappen and co-driver Renaud Jamoul are in fifteenth place after the first day of the ERC Rally of Poland.
