Koncseg beats Liimatainen for Euro RX1 win at home in Nyirád

Winning is good, but doing it at home is way better, and Hungarian driver Zoltán Koncseg finally made it in the FIA Euro RX1 Championship visit to Nyirád, showing the consistency needed in the finals to put his Audi S1 RX on top, beating a dominant Mika Liimatainen in the process.
 
Qualifying remained an open game through all four heats, with Mika Liimatainen only prevailing at the end, when he passed Damian Litwinowicz to become the top qualifier. What was the surprise was the youngster Andor Trepák appearing in third, as he had a flying start is it’s taken into consideration this was his Euro RX1 debut, with the best time in Heat 1 and the second best in Heat 2. Even though Trepák lost steam, his tally was enough to beat fellow countryman Tamás Kárai and championship leader Yury Belevskiy.
 
All the remaining home drivers made it to the Semifinals, with Zoltán Koncseg, Márk Mozer, László Kiss and Attila Mozer following Belevskiy, while Ottó Horváth just made it by beating Mandie August, who was the only one left out of the knockout phase.
 
Semifinal 1 had Trepák going elbows out with Belevskiy, only to be bumped to the barrier by the Swiss while Liimatainen retained the lead. With Márk Mozer also out of contention, Attila Mozer had to defend from Nils Volland to stay with the third place, while Liimatainen and Belevskiy were in their own zone. With Volland eventually passing Mozer, he just had to follow those ahead of him to secure the spot in the Final.
 
Semifinal 2 had Litwinowicz keeping the lead while Koncseg sneaked into second place, leaving Kárai chasing him as they were opening a gap to Kiss. An early Joker almost played against Kárai as he was stuck behind Kiss, but eventually Kiss’ Joker Lap released Kárai to take third place naturally as Litwinowicz and Koncseg cruised to the first and second positions.
 
The Final had Liimatainen’s Hyundai i20 RX against an Audi fleet, and the PGRX driver jumped in front of all of them, though Belevskiy made sure he would keep Liimatainen honest, at least until the bumping send the Swiss to a spin. With a battered Hyundai, Liimatainen then had Volland on his trail, but an issue opened the door for Koncseg, who had the Joker already done, and Liimatainen’s rush to keep the lead cost him precious tenths in the Final Lap, which played in favor of Koncseg to take the first place and not let go of it until the finish line.
 
Euro RX1 - Nyirád event results
 
Belevskiy still leads the standings with 66 points, but the awful Final he had turned Liimatainen into a fierce contender for the title, as the Finnish has 62, and behind them, Litwinowicz is a close outsider with 54 points.
 
PHOTO: Nyirád Racing Center