Belevskiy goes from almost zero to complete hero in remarkable EuroRX1 turnaround

For almost the entire weekend, it seemed that Round 1 winner Yuri Belevskiy was out of contention for another victory in the FIA European Rallycross Championship RX1 category. The Swiss driver, who had dominated in Portugal, barely troubled the top ten throughout the four qualifying heats in Höljes, just scraping into the semi-finals by a single point.

As the conditions during the semi-finals and finals threw everything at the drivers, and despite two young debutants showing incredible pace and absolutely no fear in the face of such intense competition, Belevskiy’s experience shone through the rain clouds and he set himself up to capitalise as the heavens opened once again in the final.

Before the lights went out for the last time on Sunday, the story of the weekend so far in EuroRX1 had been of two young drivers making their very first appearances in the championship in Sweden. Lukas Andersson and Joni Turpeinen are both teenagers – just 17 and 16 years old respectively – but had wowed Höljes crowds with their blistering pace throughout the qualifying heats.

Their spectacular antics continued in the final, as the pair burst off the start line and into the top two spots. It was almost impossible to keep up with the frenetic action as the two traded places over the opening laps, but as conditions continued to worsen, flying Finn Turpeinen started to make mistakes in a bid to keep pace. He smacked the wall on his joker lap and continued, but lost time and dropped out of the podium places.

Local lad Andersson fared better through the deluge, and while he lost a lot of time in the joker lap as the mud deepened during the race, allowing the wily Belevskiy to take the lead, Andersson managed to hold on to a sensational second place on debut.

Mika Liimatainen made it three different nationalities on the podium, as he finished third for the second consecutive event in his Hyundai i20 RX1. He had a strong showing throughout, winning his first qualifying heat and finishing in the top three in Q3 and Q4. A podium in his semi-final set him up for a strong result, and he duly delivered to keep the car on the road and bring the car home.

While Belevskiy is building something of a championship lead on 53 points, Liimatainen’s third takes him to second in the standings with 39 ahead of Damian Litwinowicz on 35, who crossed the finish line in Sweden fourth for Automax Motorsport. Turpeinen eventually finished fifth, but will have a lot to smile about when he reflects on a superb first outing in the FIA European Rallycross RX1 championship.

The drivers head to Hungary in just two weeks’ time for another battle that is set to be full of action around Nyirád’s red-hot racetrack.

Yury Belevskiy, Volland Racing, said: “This win feels incredible. In Portugal, we came in expecting to fight for victory, but this weekend was a completely different story. After a tough first day and a gearbox issue, we dropped way down the order, it wasn’t even clear if we’d make the semi-finals. Going into Sunday, we were just focused on salvaging some points for the championship. So to fight our way back and end up on the top step of the podium… it’s really something special.”

Lukas Andersson, Set Promotion, said: "This is my Euro RX1 debut, so I’m over the moon with this result. Before coming here, I’d only done about 30 laps in a Supercar, so to come away with P2 is honestly amazing. I was racing against a very experienced field, so to be able to compete at this level already means a lot."

Mika Liimatainen said: "It’s great to be back on the podium for the second time this season. That said, I’m a bit disappointed with the final, I felt we had the pace to fight for the win all weekend. Still, a podium is a solid result, and I’m happy with that. I’ll definitely be pushing hard to come back even stronger in Hungary."

Click here to see the Provisional Classification for the Swedish EuroRX1.

Click here to see the Provisional Championship Standings.