After triumphing in each of the first three
rounds of the 2024 campaign in Sweden, Hungary and Belgium, O’Donovan needs
just 24 points in Portugal to clinch the coveted FIA European Rallycross
Championship crown. His average score so far this season has been 37 points per
weekend, suggesting his goal is well within reach, but in rallycross – and with
a competitor as quick and determined as Yury Belevskiy – nothing can ever be
taken for granted.
That much was evident last time out at Mettet,
as a heat one clash between the Team RX Racing star and Mika Liimatainen handed
the initiative to Belevskiy, before the Volland Racing ace made a mistake at
the beginning of heat four that left his Audi buried in the barriers.
The final produced as close a scrap as has been
seen between the pair all year, as Belevskiy piled on the pressure throughout.
O’Donovan ultimately clung on to win by less than a third-of-a-second, but he
is well aware the job is not done just yet – and at the circuit he describes as
his ‘hardest track last year’, he has no intention of easing off the gas until
the final chequered flag falls.
“Like in Hungary, we had to work our way back
after a bad start to the weekend in heat one in Belgium,” reflected the 19-year-old
rising British talent, twice a champion already on the domestic scene. “Everyone
in the team did an amazing job all weekend.
“I think a large reason behind my growth in
maturity this season is that I took a long, hard look at myself over the winter.
I knew we had to do something to make a difference, because last year just wasn’t
good enough. I remember being described in a report as a ‘rough diamond’, and
to be honest, that kind of stuck with me. I’m hoping we can continue our
current momentum so that I’m able to turn around at the end of this year and
prove that the diamond has been polished.”
Belevskiy is the main obstacle to O’Donovan’s
ambitions, and the Swiss star – who has won nine of his 12 heat races this
season, one more than his Peugeot rival – makes it very clear that he will keep
battling right to the end.
“The mistake in heat four ended up costing me
dearly in Belgium,” the 29-year-old acknowledged in an interview with Pure
Rallycross. “That was clearly the turning-point of our weekend, and even
from watching back the videos, I still don’t completely understand what
happened. That was obviously very frustrating, because we had the pace in every
session at Mettet.
“Fifteen points is a significant gap,
certainly, but there are still 40 points up for grabs and we all know that in rallycross,
anything can happen. A technical problem in the semi-final can turn everything
on its head. Even if my chances look limited now, I’m not going to lay down
without a fight.”
Greece
Poland
Portugal