Jos 'Streetfighter' Verstappen: 16th

Published on 30 January 2006 by Thorsten Hendriks

He did what he had to do. A racing driver doesn't care about second place. It is all about winning. Jos went out with the aim to get on the highest step of the podium. In the very last lap Jos tried to overtake Team France. He nearly succeeded but spun and stalled his engine.

Jos: "The chance was there, I went a bit wide. There was a gap and every racing driver would have gone for it. France thought he was in and slowed down just before the corner. I went for it. Of course I am disappointed but I might have been that anyway if I wouldn't have tried it."

The flag "OVertaking is an Art" was there for a reason. Jos is a racer and that is why he has so many fans. Everyone thought overtaking was not possible on this circuit, well Jos proved them wrong.

This sprint race started again with a rolling start and the whole pack went into the first corner at top speed.

Jos had a great start and he moved up to second place, after the first corner he came out third. This didn't take long as Robbie Kerr made a mistake and Jos took 2nd place again. Indonesia and Italy crashed and the safety car was deployed. Everyone counted on that after the first corner.

With 14 laps to go the track we opened again. Jos used his powerboosts to keep up with Team France.
It was a great disappointment was the retirement of Team South Africa due to electronic problems in lap 11. That was not what the fans wanted of this race.

Jos kept driving behind France, knowing he had 1 more powerboost and France had none. Two laps before the end Brazil spun in the first corner after scraping the wall. Luckily the car was not in the way so the race could continue. China's crash in the last lap was quite spectacular. The crowd however, went crazy when the South African car came back on track.

Just when everyone seemed to have accepted that it would be France 1st and Netherlands 2nd, Jos opened his box of tricks and went for it. In the very last lap, near to the finish, Jos went for his 'all or nothing' attempt. The attempt itself was good and it seemed that Jos would make it, even on the outside. Team France's cornering speed was to high and Jos touched the Frenchman's rear wheel.
Luckily enough the Dutch car wasn't damaged too much and is able to participate in the feature race later this afternoon.

Thorsten Hendriks