Red hot return for World RX as top three tied on points after day one

It was a scorching Saturday at the recently revamped Portuguese circuit, with hoards of fans packing the legendary banking to watch their heroes return to the fight club that is World RX. Together with the thousands of fans revelling in the live and free streaming of every race, anticipation for the competitive action to start was as explosive as the sustainable-fuel in a KMS machine and electrifying as a Hansen 208.

With the qualifying groups drawn by lots at the start of the day, it was Kevin Hansen who got the first hole shot of the 2025 campaign as he launched his all-electric car into first place off the line. It was a lead he would keep to the end of the first heat, but with qualifying now decided in the classic rallycross style by overall time rather than finishing position, it was far from certain if Kevin would hold onto this early advantage.

From one brother to another in the second of the Qualifying 1 heats, Timmy Hansen set a blistering pace to lead from lights to flag, although Ole Christian Veiby was pushing hard behind, setting the fastest lap and proving the pace of the combustion-powered VW.

As the teams and drivers reset to go again for Qualifying 2, it was CE Dealer Team’s Klara Andersson and Niclas Grönholm who blasted out of the blocks and towards the top of the points table. Andersson controlled the first heat perfectly, making no mistakes on her late Joker Lap to take the chequered flag. Then, in the second heat, CE Dealer sister #68 car of Grönholm was in the zone off the line, spearing his car into Turn 1 to grab the lead off the start, leaving the others to battle hard behind. His pace was enough to top the Q2 results sheet.

Consistently quick would be the way to describe Ole Christian Veiby’s day, as he finished up after the second heats in second overall once again, netting him 45 valuable points. Andersson netted third in Q2, with Timmy and Kevin Hansen fourth and fifth respectively, having both put a tough move on sixth-placed reigning champion Johan Kristofferson in the final hairpin on the last lap of qualifying.

Combining the points from Q1 and Q2 gives us an intriguing setup for tomorrow’s full-on day of flat-out racing in Lousada. Grönholm sits atop the quali table ahead of Timmy Hansen and Ole Christian Veiby, with Kevin Hansen, Klara Andersson and Johan Kristoffersson rounding out the top six.

Finnish ace Juha Rytkönen ended the day seventh overall for PGRX ahead of Team RX Racing’s Patrick O’Donovan, who recovered from damage in his first heat to finish well in the second, gaining experience all the way in his first event at World Championship level. Anthony Pelfrène’s GCK Peugeot rounded out the runners in World RX in ninth.

CE Dealer Team's Niclas Grönholm reflected on the day stating "Today was super good, and I cannot be upset at all! I have a good feeling going into tomorrow, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We saw that the field was super tight, and Sunday will be a game of strategy. So, yes - good day, we will look at what we can improve overnight. Fingers crossed!"

With two more qualifying sessions tomorrow to set things up for the semi-finals, it’s still all to play for – click here to head to our YouTube channel and set your notifications for the live stream.

Click here for the Qualifying Standings after the first day of frenetic action in the FIA World Rallycross Championship.