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Euro RX3 2025 Season Review: Ribeiro Rules
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As has become the norm in recent seasons, the battle for honours in the FIA European Rallycross Championship’s Euro RX3 category in 2025 developed into a two-horse race, with João Ribeiro ultimately fulfilling his palpable potential as he clinched the crown he had been coveting for several years.
The Portuguese star – championship runner-up in 2024 – came out-of-the-blocks on fine form in the curtain-raising contest on home soil at Lousada, topping the timesheets in every qualifying session in the 17-strong field and dominating the final to immediately seize the initiative in the title hunt.
Ribeiro was firmly in the mix again in round two at Höljes in Sweden – rallycross’ legendary ‘Magic Weekend’ – until a puncture while leading the semi-final curtailed his charge. The Audi ace then came within literally a thousandth-of-a-second of another clean sweep at Nyirád in Hungary, going on to make it three wins out of four at Finland’s KymiRing after surviving contact at the beginning of the final with chief rival Rytis Gurklys.
That sent Ribeiro into the Istanbul championship showdown holding a commanding 24-point margin over the Lithuanian – with only 28 remaining in play. Despite a less-than-perfect weekend – uncharacteristically failing to place inside the top three in the intermediate classification and finding himself ruled out of the final by brake failure before the start – his advantage was such that the job was done prior to the semi-final stage, prompting wild celebrations for one of the most popular drivers in the paddock.
When the new champion didn’t win, Gurklys did. The teenage talent – a newcomer to the international rallycross scene in 2025 – pushed Ribeiro hard all year, and in the finals in Sweden and Türkiye, he was truly in a class of his own as he marked himself out as an indisputable star of the future in the sport.
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Fellow Audi A1 driver Nicolas Geleyns proudly flew the Antiguan flag season-long, as the 19-year-old finished runner-up at Höljes, the KymiRing and Istanbul Park, falling less than two-thirds-of-a-second shy of snatching his maiden victory in the series in Finland on his way to third in the title table. Geleyns is keen to return to the Euro RX3 grid in 2026; should he do so, he will undoubtedly be one of the favourites right from the off.
Sámuel Kovács was another multiple podium-finisher – reaching the rostrum at Lousada and Nyirád to secure fourth in the standings – while brothers André and Rogério Sousa both scooped silverware as they showed a strong turn-of-speed on occasion, although the pair unfortunately made contact in spectacular fashion at the exit of the joker in Q1 in Türkiye.
Like countryman Kovács, Balázs Körmöczi shone in front of his family, friends and fans in Hungary to finish second in his distinctively-liveried, two-tone Volkswagen Polo. Libor Teješ similarly did not complete the full campaign, but the Czech racer was one of only two drivers in the field – alongside Gurklys – to advance to the final in each of the opening four rounds.
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