Following his
hard-fought breakthrough Euro RX3 victory three weeks earlier at Mettet in
Belgium, multiple national champion Ribeiro went into the season finale sitting
just a single point behind Nils Volland at the summit of the standings – and riding
a wave of positive momentum.
In heat one, however,
he had to narrowly give best to his arch-rival, with the pair starting side-by-side
on the grid and taking the chequered flag separated by less than
two-thirds-of-a-second.
After Volland won his
race in heat two, Ribeiro knew he needed to respond in similar fashion, but a
scrappy run saw him finish ‘only’ second – and then a puncture in heat three
the next morning following a slow start and a joker merge clash with Balázs Körmöczi
relegated him to fifth.
A lightning launch for the
Baltar native from the outside of the front row of the grid – allied to an
equally lacklustre one for Volland from pole position – offered the Portuguese
fans hope that maybe all was not lost. Despite a flawless performance from Ribeiro
that yielded his second consecutive Euro RX3 triumph, however, his Volland
Racing adversary was able to recover to take the runner-up spot, meaning the home
hero ultimately fell five points short.
“It was a rollercoaster
weekend and a real mixture of emotions, winning the final but missing out on
the title by only a few points,” reflected Ribeiro, who turned 41 just prior to
the event.
“We were unlucky on the
Saturday and I made a few mistakes, and then the puncture in heat three was
very costly. That made the championship a lot harder and I knew from the start
of the final that it would be a very long shot. After the first corner, my
spotter told me that Nils was only fifth and I began to believe again, but then
the race went the way it did and at the end of the day, to finish second in the
European Championship is not so bad.
“I have to thank the
fans at Montalegre for giving me so much energy. They all wanted to shake my
hand, take a photo and wish me luck – they were absolutely incredible, and the
result in the final was my gift to them. It is a moment I will never forget,
for sure. To finish the season with a win in front of my home crowd was amazing
– a really special feeling.
“Congratulations to
Nils. It was a very tough, fair and enjoyable season between us. If I had won
the championship, I had already made a decision regarding next year, but Nils
has scuppered that plan so I need to have a re-think now!”
Europe
Poland
China