Ribeiro’s inspired
Belgian success three weeks earlier at Mettet meant just a single point
separated the championship-chasing duo heading to Portugal, in Volland’s
favour. They proved to be evenly-matched once again in the opening heat at
Montalegre, but a mistake by the home hero in Turn One enabled the German to
narrowly extend his advantage.
Volland won again in
heat two after fending off a fired-up André Sousa, putting the onus back onto
Ribeiro to respond. The 41-year-old looked to be doing just that as he nailed
the start from the middle of the grid
to take the lead in the next race, only to be punted into a half-spin by
Rytis Rutkauskas on lap two, costing him a position to countryman Tiago
Ferreira – not to mention another crucial championship point.
That made heat three
on Sunday morning a must-win affair for Ribeiro, but a poor start set the tone
for what was to follow. After surviving a clash with Nico Geleyns to settle
into second, he set about hunting down Joaquim Machado, but an early joker
strategy in an attempt to gain the undercut would backfire, as he exited
alongside Balázs Körmöczi, who determinedly held his ground.
Contact between the
pair left Ribeiro with a punctured tyre, leaving him to limp around to the
chequered flag in fifth place – and his frustration was compounded by a
comfortable win for Volland immediately after.
While the local star
regained his composure to prevail in heat four, so too did Volland, who produced
a demon launch to sweep all the way from fifth on the grid into the lead by
Turn One and then artfully withstood a dual threat from Sousa brothers André
and Rogério.
Grabbing the bull by
the horns, the championship leader dominated the first semi-final from
lights-to-flag, with his performance mirrored by Ribeiro a few minutes later,
but with seven points between them in the title standings heading into the
final, the Baltar native knew he needed a miracle. He almost got one.
From pole position,
Volland found himself edged down to fifth at the start as Ribeiro seized the
initiative. For a while, it looked like the latter was going to pull off an astonishing
upset, but subsequent dramas elevated the Roth-born ace to second, as Dominik
Senegacnik got caught up with both André and Rogério Sousa, spinning the former
into the wall – a misdemeanour for which the Austrian was subsequently disqualified.
While Ribeiro
celebrated the consolation prize of a home turf triumph – making it honours
even in terms of overall wins in 2024 – Volland sealed the deal with the
runner-up spoils, as Körmöczi returned to the rostrum in third for the first
time since his Euro RX3 debut last year.
“I got a very bad start
in the final – maybe I was too nervous, I don’t know,” reflected the
newly-crowned champion – the first German to lift the laurels on the European
stage since Sven Seeliger in 2001. “I backed out of it in the first corner
because I was conscious of not wanting to crash, and then everybody came around
the outside of me!
“That obviously wasn’t
a good feeling, but I was able to set some quick lap times after that and
luckily, I’d already had strong results in the heats and semi-final, so I had a
bit of a gap in terms of points. Now, I just feel great!”
Europe
Poland
China