Club Arnage

Verstappen to race at Le Mans

By Biranit Goren Thursday, December 27th 2007, 22:39 GMT


Former Formula One driver Jos Verstappen will enter the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2008, the Dutchman announced today.

Verstappen, who last raced in F1 in 2003, will join experienced Le Mans driver Jeroen Bleekemolen and compatriot and team owner Peter van Merksteijn in driving an LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder under the banner of Van Merksteijn Motorsport by Equipe Verschuur.

The trio will also enter 1,000km races in the Le Mans Series.

"I am looking forward to being able to race again next season, and especially so in the Le Mans 24 Hours," Verstappen said. "That is a highlight for any racing driver.

"Endurance racing with its pitstops and driver changes is entirely new to me and I will have to learn a lot, but I am very confident that I will be able to succeed.

"Of course, Porsche is a great brand with many decades of experience and an incredible pedigree in motor racing. The team also consists of people who know their way at this level, so from that point of view, all the key factors are in place."

Verstappen, the most successful F1 driver to come out of the Netherlands, with 107 Grand Prix starts and two podium finishes, last raced competitively in the first season of the A1GP series in 2005

First, they have to get invited for the 24 Hours, and second, we're not so fond of Mr Verstappen at DfH.  ::) Jeroen is a nice guy, I haven't go a clue about van Merkstein, but JV is an even more pain in the ass as the Canadian with the same initials.

Our guess is that Jan will get a drive with a LMP1 team, and we will root for him just a little bit more. ;)

Amen to that!

hear hear

I never remember 'pains' in my *rse due to the regularity.

So 'JV' dutch or Canadian' I could give a toss.

However, any car that carries a Brit' or Dutch driver, I will be rooting for.

Leftie

Thanks LT please no Verstappen (and the morons that actually support Jos "the Toss" Verstappen) at Le Mans next year.
But oh well there's still the ACO not inviting them and then there is JV cancelling out on "sure" things before.

DfH is first based on supporting Lammers, and then all other Dutch entries - except for Jos (there's also some recent history there).
It's just an arrogant b*stard which cannot do anything else but critisize everyone and everything around him. He's even got the guts to slam down Spyker in one of his most recent interviews, the guy is just a joke.

As Bas says - his so called 'fans' make things even worse, the most ignorant and short sighted people you will ever meet on a racing track; far worse than the average MSchumacher-fan.
And that's my worry. I want to be proud to wave the Dutch flag, not be associated with guys on clogs who can barely speak their native tongue, let alone speak anything else :-\

well Patrick, for this year we will not have any issues yet, and after LeMans 2008 I don't think that Jos will be in that Porsche anymore (at least I hope that is the case).

I'd rather see Patrick Huisman in that car

The reactions on various Dutch sites actually do show his fans are preparing to visit Le Mans though :-\

I saw someone actually wishing for Verstappen to drive into Jan Lammers on Le Mans. It would absolutly be the end of his racing career if he would be so stupid, so he won't well you never know, but it says a lot about these so called 'racing fans'.

Was this on the verstappen forum? pretty quiett there if you ask me?

Ohh well Paddy most of them haven't got a clue what Le Mans is about, they surely will not obtain tickets to any of the decent campsites.
Frankly the clueless lot that they are they'll probably pay 500 euro each for a bus to take them from Maastricht to Le Mans on Saturday morning, with just a General Enclosure ticket and a return on Sunday 4 pm.

Good on them, I guess they'll have a one-off experience just like Jos will have (if he makes it to Le Mans whatsoever).

No, it was that same Limburger we laughed on on the Veronica forum last year (Zandvoort 2006). ;) The quote was found on the f1racing forum.