Patrick O’Donovan secures Euro RX1 title at Montalegre

Patrick O’Donovan came to Montalegre as the favorite for the 2024 FIA Euro RX1 Championship crown, and despite the best efforts from Yury Belevskiy to delay it, which even ended in the even win for the Swiss driver, the Team RX Racing driver relied on his consistency to lift his first European title in only two full seasons.
 
It was clear that the main fight would be between the title contenders Patrick O’Donovan and Yury Belevskiy, with the British hitting the perfect score and the top of the Heats table, while a tumble in Heat 1 left the Swiss in second place, while the rest of the field had moments of brilliance from most of the drivers, in special Damian Litwinowicz, Zoltán Koncseg, Julien Febreau and Paulius Pleskovas.
 
There were two home drivers in the 17 car grid, with José Oliveira doing respectful performances, even though they were unspectacular, which is why he narrowly missed the qualification for the Semifinals, while Cesar Pereira had to deal with a troublesome Ford Fiesta ST RX that wasn’t on par with the European competition.
 
Semifinal 1 had O’Donovan leading Liimatainen and Litwinowicz, and despite the pressure he was having on his back, O’Donovan still had the pace advantage that secured the win with a well executed Joker that has beaten Litwinowicz and Liimatainen to secure the European title.
 
With the title now off the cards, the remainder of the Sunday for Belevskiy would be to show a respectable performance, leading the Semifinal 2 from the go as Tamás Karái and Juliean Febreau were almost physical in the fight for second, which attracted the attentions of Mate Benyó, but the Hungarian didn’t have the extra to pass the Frenchman on track, who completed the list of qualified drivers behind Belevskiy and Karái. Later on, Febreau was penalized for track limit infringement and Benyó inherited his third place.
 
The final battle of the season between O’Donovan and Belevskiy would also decide the last winner of the 2024 season, but O’Donovan missed the start and was shoved to the side to stay in sixth while Belevskiy was leading while having Litwinowicz, Liimatainen and Benyó having their own fight.
 
From this moment, it was chaos to the finish. Belevskiy had free way to the win, and while Benyó has beaten Litwinowicz at the Joker exit, the Polish driver met the side of Liimatainen’s Hyundai i20 RX, sending both to a spin and handing the podium place to O’Donovan.
 
Euro RX1 Montalegre - Event results
 
While Belevskiy brought the title battle almost to the end, his 135 points weren’t enough to beat O’Donovan’s 147, with Benyó ending in third by a miracle with 106 points while Litwinowicz had 104 and Liimatainen scored 99.
 
PHOTO: Team RX Racing