Patrick O’Donovan has been proving that his 2024 season will be one of perseverance, as he is rising again and again no matter how many tumbles he takes in the FIA Euro RX1 Championship, having a complicated start that ended with the third victory in three rounds, leaving Mettet not only with the championship lead over fierce rival Yury Belevskiy, but also keeping the winning streak alive with only a single round to go.
The situation in the Heats looked like a repetition of the Nyirád session where Yury Belevskiy was on the course to a flawless victory while Patrick O’Donovan had to go to war to recover from the crash that derailed him from the lead in Heat 1, but then in Heat 4, Mika Liimatainen got Belevskiy stuck in the barriers and this basically got the two contenders out of O’Donovan’s way, topping the session while his opposition came right behind. With lots of contacts, mechanical issues and tire failures, the ranking got really spread out in terms of points, which ended up eliminating Tamás Karái surprisingly, as the Hungarian failed to show an ounce of the prowess demonstrated at home.
The O’Donovan had the right side of the grid for them in Semifinal 1, and when Damian Litwinowicz decided to barge into Patrick O’Donovan, Ollie went to the rescue and formed an one car wall to hold everybody but Zoltán Koncseg. Patrick had total control of the race and Litwinowicz had to defend second place for his life, succeeding in doing so thanks to Ollie bumping Koncseg out of the way. In the end, Litwinowicz was second and Ollie got a hard fought third place, only to get demoted due the contacts at the start of the race, which promoted László Kiss to third.
Belevskiy had his Audi S1 RX placed in the grid for Semifinal 2 with a bunch of repairs, and he had no hurry to start and lead as the ideal line was interesting for him. While Belevskiy and Benyó had first and second places in their hands, Ales Fucik had a freak incident with a puncture that saw him throw a movable tire barrier into Liimatainen, but he lost the position to Mark Mózer. Positions were unchanged in first and second, while Mark Mózer carried his Ford Fiesta RX to the third place.
The Final was the last opportunity for Belevskiy to turn the tide in his favor, but Patrick O’Donovan protected well the inside in turn 1 and lead. Initially Belevskiy was glued and pressing, but O’Donovan acted to create some sort of a cushion in the speed sectors, which kept the Brit ahead of the Swiss until the finish line.
Euro RX1 Mettet - Event results
Belevskiy’s situation in the table gets more complicated as O’Donovan has 111 points against his 96, and with Liimatainen and Benyó losing ground as they have 77 points, this is on course to be a two horse race for the title at the Montalegre finale on 7 and 8 September.
PHOTO: Team RX Racing
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