Maiko Tamm had room in his schedule and a will to race in the FIA Euro RX1 Championship, and the KymiRing was the perfect place to debut in the championship, and just like the Estonian did in RallyX North, he let his consistency do the work for him and rose to the top when it mattered the most, beating regulars and favorites to win in Finnish soil again.
While Yury Belevskiy topped the Qualifying, the Swiss driver relied more on consistency than any other thing, as no driver had absolute control of the heats, and the tendency was that if there were no crashes or spins, basically all drivers in a determined heat could climb the intermediate standings if a certain race was fast paced. Martin Enlund was the best of the part timers in second, while Damian Litwinowicz barely beat the Finnish drivers behind him, as Anton Seppä, Mika Liimatainen and Joni Turpeinen could be threats at any given time, with the same being valid for Maiko Tamm, debuting in Euro RX1 with seventh in the standings a week after being third in the RallyX North table.
A light shower was more than enough to make the first portion of tarmac pretty tricky for the first Semifinal, and amid a four wide start and some contact, Tamm took the lead out of Litwinowicz and Belevskiy, but with most Joker laps complete before halfway point, Tamm had Liimatainen ahead and both were waiting for a Final Lap Joker. Tamm did it on Lap 5 and was able to cut both Litwinowicz and Belevskiy, and when Liimatainen did the Joker on Lap 6, he positioned himself exactly to cut Belevskiy’s chances of a Final, with Tamm and Litwinowicz finishing just ahead of the PGRX driver.
The second Semifinal had Enlund jumping the start, and naturally being penalized with the double Joker, which in theory would leave Seppä free to reign, but with a wet home straight things didn’t work like this, as Turpeinen tried to pass both, being compressed to a spin that clogged the field at turn 2, which opened the way for Mats Öhman to get second place despite going on a massive off track trip, eventually taking the lead from Enlund. With Enlund and Mikko Ikonen way behind due to their own circumstances, Öhman had total control of the race until the finish.
Tamm had the best position on the inside to start the Final, but it would depend of the bravery shown by those on the outside line, and Ikonen was the brave man to pass the field in one outside move, right when the rain came back, and while the Betomik Racing driver was holding on, Tamm and Enlund were all over him, with Tamm eventually opening the door amid Ikonen’s deep entry into turn 1.
The problem for the top 3 was that Belevskiy already did the Joker and was all over them, but a sequence of freak incidents took the final lap, with Belevskiy spinning and Ikonen’s rear right tire exploding, which was the relief that Tamm needed to just bring home the Ford Fiest ST RX and get the win, with Enlund getting the second place and Öhman completing the podium.
Euro RX1 - KymiRing event results
Belevskiy still has the lead with 84 points, but Liimatainen’s 74 and Litwinowicz’ 69 should be an alert for the Volland Racing driver ahead of the Istanbul finale, which will be held on 21 September.
PHOTO: FIA World Rallycross Championship
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