While his son has been the ace of Formula One since the turn of the decade, Jos Verstappen continues to get behind the wheel himself by dabbling in rallies. In October, he will find himself in a 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RS, competing in his first ever classic rally at the Tour de Corse Historique.
Verstappen is long associated with pavement racing as an ex-F1 driver who has also competed in A1 Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Although he later dialled back his driving to focus on his son Max, the elder Verstappen decided to resume his career in 2022 by competing in the Belgian Rally Championship. In three years, he has already scored six wins in the domestic series, the latest coming at the Rally van Haspengouw in February in the Master Cup class.
He made his World Rally Championship début at the 2022 Ypres Rally, finishing sixtieth in WRC2.
“He doesn’t yet have the terrain reading skills of a true specialist to anticipate changes in grip on the track. However, he retains an exceptional sensitivity to braking from his circuit days,” commented co-driver Renaud Jamoul. “He presses very hard on the pedal until the point of lock-up, then releases gradually, like an ABS system.”
Of course, the 1974 Porsche is a much different beast from the Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 that he’s used to. The car was built with Group 3 rules in mind, featuring a three-litre aircooled flat-six engine with a top speed of 244.62 kilometres per hour. Only fifty-six models were ever produced, making it highly sought after by car collectors to this day; by comparison, Porsche made 1,580 of its predecessor, the 1973 Carrera 2.7 RS.
“Jos belongs to the generation of H-gearboxes, so handling an older car is not an issue for him unlike current F1 drivers,” commented Romain Joffroy, who prepared the car for Verstappen. “Jos can’t yet measure the pleasure he’s going to get from this rally at the wheel of this 330-bhp, 930-kilogram rear-wheel drive car. It’s his first participation, but certainly not the last.”
The Tour de Corse Historique is reserved for vehicles built between 1947 and 1990, effectively a historic counterpart to the Tour de Corse that has been held since 1956. The twenty-fourth edition is scheduled for 5–12 October, starting and ending in Porto-Vecchio, with five stages of seventeen specials and 386 kilometres in timed sections.
