Belevskiy crowned Euro RX1 champion as Litwinowicz breaks through in Türkiye

Belevskiy’s path to the title has been peppered with ups-and-downs – and the season finale at Istanbul Park was no different. Minor contact with Tamás Kárai in Q1 left him with steering damage and marked a disastrous start to his day, particularly with chief competitor Mika Liimatainen topping the times following an astonishing performance that outpaced even the World RX superstars.

The championship leader fared somewhat better in Q2 with a clean run to go second-quickest – but that was still more than two-and-a-half seconds shy of Liimatainen, who again got the better of him in Q3, when Belevskiy was delayed by a spinning Joni Turpeinen following first lap contact between the pair.

Liimatainen duly secured Top Qualifier honours, and with Belevskiy third, that meant a two-point swing in the Finn’s favour in the championship classification. As they lined up alongside one another on the front row of the grid for the opening semi-final, there was tension in the air. With good reason, it transpired...

Volland Racing ace Belevskiy found himself in close company with both Liimatainen and the latter’s team-mate Turpeinen away from the line, dropping him to third, and despite subsequently running wheel-to-wheel with the younger of the two Finns, he was unable to overhaul the talented teenager.

Their ferocious duel allowed Liimatainen in the lead to make good his escape – and, more significantly, early joker René Münnich to catch up behind. Contact at the hairpin then caused Belevskiy to stall, and worse was to follow, as a mistake on the penultimate tour saw him clip the tyres and tear one of the rear wheels off his Audi, ending his day on the spot.

With the Swiss star out of the equation and Liimatainen winning the race, another victory in the all-important final would suffice for the latter to steal the crown, and for a while, that is exactly what the Jyväskylä native looked set to deliver.

Earlier jokers for runaway semi-final two winner Kárai and Litwinowicz, however, brought the pair into play, with Liimatainen’s stellar speed seeming to desert him just when he needed it the most. The Hyundai driver delayed his own joker until the last lap in an effort to buy himself some breathing space, but it was too late, as the flying Litwinowicz swept past to secure a hugely popular and well-deserved breakthrough Euro RX1 win.

Liimatainen subsequently endeavoured to tough it out with Kárai – even edging the Audi onto the grass heading towards the hairpin – but the Hungarian stood his ground to clinch a career-high second-place finish. Liimatainen rounded out the rostrum in third, but in the context of the championship, that was not quite enough, as Litwinowicz rubbed salt into the wounds by snatching the runner-up position in the title table on countback.

Tomorrow (Sunday, 21 September), the Euro RX1 regulars will go head-to-head with their World RX counterparts in a straight scrap for the first time. Points might not be at stake, but pride most certainly is – and it promises to be epic!

Click here to schedule tomorrow’s action live and free on the FIA World Rallycross Championship YouTube Channel.