Red hot return for World RX as top three tied on points after day one

Sport news It was a scorching Saturday at the recently revamped Portuguese circuit, with hoards of fans packing the legendary banking to watch their heroes return to the fight club that is World RX. Together with the thousands of fans revelling in the live and free streaming of every race, anticipation for the competitive action to start was as explosive as the sustainable-fuel in a KMS machine and electrifying as a Hansen 208. With the qualifying groups drawn by lots at the start of the day, it was Kevin Hansen who got the first hole shot of the 2025 campaign as he launched his all-electric car into first place off the line. It was a lead he would keep to the end of the first heat, but with qualifying now decided in the classic rallycross style by overall time rather than finishing position, it was far from certain if Kevin would hold onto this early advantage. From one brother to another in the second of the Qualifying 1 heats, Timmy Hansen set a blistering pace to lead from lights to flag, although Ole Christian Veiby was pushing hard behind, setting the fastest lap and proving the pace of the combustion-powered VW. As the teams and drivers reset to go again for Qualifying 2, it was CE Dealer Team’s Klara Andersson and Niclas Grönholm who blasted out of the blocks and towards the top of the points table. Andersson controlled the first heat perfectly, making no mistakes on her late Joker Lap to take the chequered flag. Then, in the second heat, CE Dealer sister #68 car of Grönholm was in the zone off the line, spearing his car into Turn 1 to grab the lead off the start, leaving the others to battle hard behind. His pace was enough to top the Q2 results sheet. Consistently quick would be the way to describe Ole Christian Veiby’s day, as he finished up after the second heats in second overall once again, netting him 45 valuable points. Andersson took third in Q2, with Timmy and Kevin Hansen fourth and fifth respectively, having both put a tough move on sixth-placed reigning champion Johan Kristofferson in the final hairpin on the last lap of qualifying. Combining the points from Q1 and Q2 gives us an intriguing setup for tomorrow’s full-on day of flat-out racing in Lousada. Grönholm sits atop the quali table ahead of Timmy Hansen and Ole Christian Veiby, though all three are equal on points. Kevin Hansen, Klara Andersson and Johan Kristoffersson round out the top six. Finnish ace Juha Rytkönen ended the day seventh overall for PGRX ahead of Team RX Racing’s Patrick O’Donovan, who recovered from damage in his first heat to finish well in the second, gaining experience all the way in his first event at World Championship level. Anthony Pelfrène’s GCK Peugeot rounded out the runners in World RX in ninth. With two more qualifying sessions tomorrow to set things up for the semi-finals, it’s still all to play for – click here to head to our YouTube channel and set your notifications for the live stream. Click here for the Qualifying Standings after the first day of frenetic action in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. -  Volland Racing showing blistering pace out of the blocks in EuroRX1 Yury Belevskiy gets maximum qualifying points on opening day of FIA European Rallycross Championship in Lousada ahead of team-mate Nils Volland The opening blows in the first round of the 2025 FIA European Rallycross Championship have been struck in the RX1 category, with the brace of Volland Racing Audi S1s setting the early pace. Yury Belevskiy made a bold move in the second heat of the first qualifying session to take victory on-track and set the fastest overall time. His maximum point score was repeated when the cars returned to the Lousada International Circuit for Qualifying 2 in a heat that saw blistering pace from the Swiss driver. Setting lap times in the 38.0s, it was an impressive turn of speed that will have his rivals working overtime to try and tackle tomorrow. Hot on his heels was fellow Volland Racing pilot Nils Volland. The German set the second fastest time in the Q1 heats and third fastest in Q2 and wasn’t far from the overall pace of his stablemate. Miika Liimatainen is the Volland team’s closest competitor overnight, with solid runs through today’s heats putting him third in the qualifying points table. Action returns to the track tomorrow with even more fans and spectacular action expected at this hugely successful return to rallycross in the European Championship. Click here  to view the provisional qualifying points standings in EuroRX1. - EuroRX3 cars kick-off the racing action in Lousada A superb 19-car entry, bolstered by local heroes and RX rising stars hit the track for the first competitive action of 2025 today in Lousada, Portugal. With teams and drivers split into four groups to contest today’s two Qualifying Sessions, it was a thrill a minute for the fans lining this iconic rallycross circuit. The fans on the terraces had plenty to cheer, as local knowledge was clearly paying dividends out on-track. Joao Ribeiro scored a maximum of 100 quali points with victory and the quickest overall times across both sessions, while fellow countryman Joaquim Machado sits in second having set the fourth and second fastest times across Q1 and Q2. It would have been an all-Portuguese top three had it not been for the impressive pace of Czech driver Libor Teješ, who mirrored the results of Machado to score second and then fourth best times during Saturday’s track action. Andre Sousa’s result locked out the top for provisional positions for Audi A1 drivers, before a brace of Skoda Fabias in the hands of Sámuel Kovács and Leonel Sampaio claimed fifth and sixth overall. There are a plethora of different EuroRX3 cars battling out around the twists, turns and jumps of Lousada International Circuit, from Rafaela Barbosa’s Peugeot 208 to Luis Pedro Ferreira’s Renault Twingo, it’s all still to play for with two more qualifying sessions tomorrow setting things up for the semi-finals and all-important final. Click here for the provisional qualifying results from today.

World Rallycross Championship


European Rallycross Championship


World RX WorldRX of Portugal Euro RX World RX SEASON 2025 Sport Off-Road 1SportWorld Rallycross ChampionshipEuropean Rallycross ChampionshipOff-RoadWorld RXSEASON 2025World RXWorldRX of PortugalEuro RX00 Sunday, June 1, 2025 - 9:58am Sunday, June 1, 2025 - 9:58am