Jos Verstappen suffers heavy crash in Rally of Wallonia

Jos Verstappen saw his Rally of Wallonia challenge come to an early conclusion after crashing on the first special stage of Sunday’s action.

The 54-year-old lost control of his Škoda, left the road and rolled the car, bringing an immediate end to his weekend in Belgium. Photos shared online showed the vehicle heavily damaged and resting upside down after the accident.

Event organisers later confirmed the incident through their official social media channels. Despite the severity of the crash, both Verstappen and co-driver Jasper Vermeulen were reported to be unharmed.

Verstappen was competing this weekend without his usual navigator Renaud Jamoul, who was unable to take part after suffering a broken ankle earlier in the week.

Before the retirement, Verstappen had shown competitive pace and finished Saturday in third place overall. However, his rally had already been complicated by a 40-second penalty for speeding on a road section between stages, which dropped him down the order to 17th position before Sunday began.