Euro RX1 2025 Season Review: Three drivers, three points

Ultimately, it was 2024 runner-up Yury Belevskiy who went one better than he had 12 months previously to clinch the coveted crown, with the Swiss star proving unbeatable in the Lousada curtain-raiser in Portugal, winning every race he contested to get his challenge off to the perfect start.

He triumphed again in round two at Höljes in Sweden, albeit in distinctly different fashion, after a torrid run through the heats saw him only just advance to the semi-final stage. Non-finishes in Hungary and Finland, however, kept chief rivals Mika Liimatainen and Damian Litwinowicz in the hunt – with the trio entering the Istanbul season finale separated by 15 points.

Despite that uncertainty, a ten-point advantage for Belevskiy with only 28 remaining up for grabs in Türkiye meant the Volland Racing ace was still very much in pole position for glory – but in rallycross, things are rarely as simple or predictable as that.

Sure enough, drama lay just around the corner. A DNF caused by contact with the barrier in Q1 offered the first indication that Belevskiy was not going to have a straightforward time of it – and worse was to follow. A similar incident in the semi-final preceded a collision with a tyre stack as he strove desperately to fight back, with the impact tearing a wheel off his Audi S1 – ruling him out of the all-important final and placing the ball very much in Liimatainen’s court.

Having set the pace in Euro RX1 weekend-long around Istanbul Park Circuit, the flying Finn looked set to punish the championship leader’s error. Just when he needed it most, however, the Hyundai driver’s scintillating turn-of-speed seemed to desert him, and after holding sway over the opening laps, he found himself undercut by Litwinowicz and Tamás Kárai once the respective jokers had played out.

Knowing that only victory would secure him the spoils, Liimatainen launched a late counter-attack on Kárai, but the Hungarian – as formidable a competitor as you will find in the European Championship – staunchly held his ground, obliging the Jyväskylä native to settle for third and handing a barely-believing Belevskiy a second international title to add to the Euro RX3 laurels he lifted back in 2021.

To rub salt into the wounds, Liimatainen was pipped to second in the standings on countback by Litwinowicz, who continued to impress in his sophomore season in the category and whose breakthrough success in Türkiye was one of the most popular results of the year. The talented Polish racer similarly reached the rostrum at Lousada and Nyirád, and while Liimatainen failed to win a round, he did set foot on the podium more than anybody else.

Belevskiy’s team-mate Nils Volland wound up fourth overall following a consistent campaign that never truly lived up to the early promise he displayed on the opening day in Portugal. A crash 24 hours later subsequently knocked his confidence, which he admitted it took him a while to rebuild. 

Martin Enlund twice progressed to the final in three outings behind the wheel of his Ford Fiesta, while fellow young guns Joni Turpeinen, Maiko Tamm and Lukas Andersson all showcased their skills with stellar performances on their sporadic outings in the series. The Finn was a front-runner in Sweden and Türkiye, with the Estonian stunning seasoned onlookers to triumph on his lone appearance at the KymiRing and the Swedish teenager conquering the conditions to finish runner-up at Höljes’ ‘Magic Weekend’.

In a campaign that celebrated four different winners from five events, finally, perhaps the biggest feelgood story came in Hungary, where veteran rallycrosser Zoltán Koncseg got the better of all the fancied protagonists to ascend the highest step of the rostrum on home soil.