O’Donovan’s bid began with a bang in Belgium – only
the wrong kind of bang. Contact with Mika Liimatainen exiting the first corner in
heat one – for which the Finn was subsequently penalised – hobbled his Peugeot
and handed the initiative to arch-rival Yury Belevskiy, who won the race at a
canter.
Both enjoyed a more straightforward time of
things in heat two, taking five championship points apiece, but were forced to
battle harder in heat three the next morning for the same result. After losing
out at the start, O’Donovan then spun 360 degrees at the end of the opening tour – spectacularly dislodging a tyre stack in the process – before unleashing a
stirring recovery charge that brought the appreciative crowd to their feet.
In heat four, it was Belevskiy’s turn to encounter
drama, as the Volland Racing driver led into Turn One only to slide wide and bury
his Audi in the barriers, with Liimatainen following him in – resulting in significant
damage to both cars. By contrast, a lightning launch from O’Donovan from the
outside of the grid in the next race earned the rising British star a comfortable
win – and with it, top spot in the intermediate Ranking.
The pair each dominated their respective
semi-finals – by almost eight seconds in O’Donovan’s case – to line up
alongside one another for the final. After fending off an early attack from
Belevskiy, the Team RX Racing ace proceeded to keep his Swiss adversary at arm’s
length throughout, as they jokered in unison on the last lap and took the
chequered flag separated by less than a third-of-a-second.
Now the only permanent driver in the World RX paddock
to have kept a completely clean sheet in 2024, O’Donovan will duly head to the
fourth and final round of the season at Montalegre in Portugal next month (7-8 September)
holding a 15-point margin over Belevskiy at the summit of the standings, with
40 remaining in play.
“I remembered how quick Yury had been at Mettet
last year – honestly, I think he’s faster than me around this track – so I really
had to get my head down in the final and focus on managing the gap,” the
19-year-old reflected. “We had a few misfortunes over the weekend, but the boys
worked tirelessly and the car was absolutely perfect. Patrick’s done the
hat-trick!”
Behind the pace-setting duo, Máté Benyó (Korda
Racing) narrowly held off Damian Litwinowicz (Volland Racing) to secure his
second consecutive podium finish in Euro RX1, with the Pole fighting back to take
fourth following a slow start.
Márk Mózer wound up fifth in his maiden European
Championship final, with countryman László Kiss crashing out of contention.
Liimatainen’s challenge concluded at the semi-final stage, denting his title ambitions
as – not for the first time over the weekend – he found himself caught up in
somebody else’s accident.
Greece
Poland
Portugal