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Ribeiro thrilled to bounce back with ‘near-perfect’ Nyirád weekend
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Having seen his championship lead reduced to just a single point by misfortune in the second round of the 2025 Euro RX3 campaign at Höljes, João Ribeiro responded in commanding fashion at Nyirád two weeks later to reassert his supremacy in the chase for the coveted crown.
Ribeiro is targeting a maiden title in the FIA European Rallycross Championship this year, after falling just five points short last season at the end of a tense nip-and-tuck duel with fellow Audi driver Nils Volland.
The Portuguese ace got his bid off to the perfect start in the curtain-raising contest on home soil at Lousada – taking a clean sweep of victories across the four qualifying heats, semi-final and final to claim a maximum score, to the delight of the partisan crowd – but then conceded ground in Sweden when a puncture from the lead in the semi-final prematurely curtailed his charge.
Heading to Hungary, Ribeiro knew he would have his work cut out against a swathe of local specialists, but the Baltar native was on fine form from the outset and missed out on another full house of heat wins by a mere thousandth-of-a-second to Dominik Senegacnik in heat three.
After withstanding the pressure applied by Balázs Körmöczi in the semi-final, he subsequently did enough to fend off a fast-starting Rytis Gurklys – his closest championship rival – into the first corner in the final and was thereafter never headed, ultimately taking the chequered flag almost five seconds to the good as his pursuers tripped over each other in his wake.
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Ribeiro’s dominant second triumph of the season saw him extend his margin at the summit of the standings to 15 points going next to Finland’s KymiRing on 23-24 August.
“It was fantastic to win, especially after the bad luck in the previous round that cost me a lot of championship points,” the 41-year-old acknowledged. “Nyirád is a special track for the entire team, and I really enjoy driving there – for me, it’s one of the best circuits on the European Championship calendar and somewhere we’ve always performed well.
“I know many drivers have a lot more experience there than I do, but we managed to set an excellent pace throughout – especially in the final – and a near-perfect weekend secured us maximum points and enabled us to extend our lead in the championship.
“Now, it’s time to prepare the car for the next round in Finland, where we will try to maintain this momentum.”
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