On the same weekend that four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen claimed his first GT3 victory at the Nordschleife in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, his father, Jos Verstappen, won the 2025 Belgian Rally Championship during the penultimate round of the series.
The 53-year-old Verstappen and his co-driver Renaud Jamoul secured a third-place finish in the East Belgian Rally in the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, which was enough to seal the deal.
“We are really happy”, Verstappen explained after the podium celebrations. “This wasn’t the most interesting of rallies as we kept it safe with our tyre choices. At the end we did have the right tyres and we were able to be faster, but we took it easy on the final stage. We wanted to secure the championship; that was the main goal today.
“You always try to be as prepared as possible and have the right people around you. Renaud is of course very important in all of this. We enjoy working together and it’s great to fight at the front. The enjoyment is there, and the results follow. We are competitive, which also helps us enjoy ourselves."
This comes as Max Verstappen took the victory on his GT3 debut at the iconic Nürburgring Nordschleife in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie. Alongside his team-mate Chris Lulham, the Red Bull F1 driver took the wheel of the Verstappen.com x Red Bull-liveried Ferrari 296 GT3, run by Swiss outfit Emil Frey Racing.
After starting from third on the grid, Verstappen took the lead ahead of the first corner and continued to extend the gap to the rest of the pack behind him, which was just over a minute after 14 laps. He switched places with Lulham, who drove the 296 GT3 home to clinch the victory for the duo.
“It was great," Verstappen said. “During my first two stints, the car was amazing. After qualifying, I knew the car would be good on a dry track. Everything went well in terms of traffic, and we didn’t make any big mistakes. To win my debut race here is amazing.”
