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The latest news from the FIA Motorsport Games

Find out the latest updates from the third edition of the FIA Motorsport Games which will be held in Valencia, Spain, from October 23-27.

Karting Sprint Jr: Team United Kingdom stun rivals to win gold

October 27, 2024

Jorge Edgar kept his powder dry until it really mattered as the United Kingdom star stormed through the field to win gold in the Karting Sprint Jr category.


The young Briton has mainly raced nationally in his short career so far and was up against myriad drivers with international experience. Despite showing solid form in the Heats, Edgar started the final from seventh on the grid and seemingly had it all to do to win a medal.


Pole man ⁠İskender Zülfikari was the outstanding favourite with the Team Türkiye talent maintaining his position in the early running.


A stellar start from Edgar immediately fired him up to fourth and from there he had to scrap to hold station in the opening moments.


He nipped by Team India’s Jagrat Detroja at turn one on the third tour as Türkiye’s Zülfikari traded P1 with Team Netherlands’ Mats Van Rooijen.


A huge moment occurred on lap seven when both Zülfikari and Edgar nipped by the Netherlands in the same move.


Second soon became first for Edgar and he never looked back, while slight contact late on between the Türkiye and Netherlands karts sent the latter tumbling out of medal contention.


Zülfikari held on to take second, whilst Bosco Arias secured another podium for home nation Spain, but the celebrations belonged to Edgar and Team United Kingdom.

GT Sprint: Turkish delight for Güven in thrilling medal race

October 27, 2024

Ayhancan Güven stormed from the rear of the pack to secure Türkiye’s first ever gold medal in today’s GT Sprint race.


The contest was made more interesting when pole-sitter Güven was sent to the back of the grid for running an underweight car. The Porsche driver was going to need to work for this win.


When the lights went out Güven immediately charged to fifth and then made quick work of Jazeman Jafaar (Malaysia Lamborghini) and Darren Leung (United Kingdom Ferrari).


The Safety Car was deployed before the 10-minute mark to remove the Chinese Taipei Mercedes-AMG from the gravel. This played to Güven’s advantage as he was now on the rear of Daniel Juncadella (Spain Mercedes-AMG).


The Turkish racer did not need long to pass his Spanish rival and was now closing in on leader Finn Wiebelhaus in the Team Germany Mercedes-AMG. But the teenager was not going to be an easy overtake.


Wiebelhaus made full use of his car’s superior top-end speed to keep his rival at bay for several laps. It took a lot of work, but Güven finally squeezed through a Porsche-sized gap with less than five minutes remaining to claim gold.


Wiebelhaus added a silver to the gold he scored yesterday in GT, while Juncadella took bronze for Spain.


Cross Car Senior: Repeat Performance by Méat for Gold Medal

October 27, 2024

David Méat captured Team France’s first medal of the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games by claiming his second Cross Car Senior gold in as many editions.


Having won the top honours in Marseille in 2022, the Frenchman refused to give up his grip on the top step and repeated the feat during a dramatic Final at Aspar Circuit on Sunday morning.


The Senior final, for driver aged 16+, was both the first to take place and proved the cleanest of the three Cross Car shootouts.


Méat started first and successfully held off the field for the full seven laps en route to the victory and his second consecutive gold at the Games.


After starting fourth, Ivan Pina Chinchilla scored another silver medal for his home country of Spain, which finished inside the top three in each of the Cross Car Finals. Team Sweden’s Sebastian Enholm finished third for the bronze medal, also mirroring his performance from 2022.


Cross Car Junior: Wild Final Entertains Off-Road Crowd

October 27, 2024

Team Belgium scooped its second gold medal of the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games with Lucas Cartelle emerging out front from a drama-filled Junior Final.


The Junior Final, for drivers aged 13-15, brought shock and entertainment for fans onsite at Aspar Circuit and even required two attempts to complete.


A red flag was brought out on the first lap after two separate collisions took out numerous competitors. Cartelle of Team Belgium was involved in one of the incidents, but was able to rejoin the grid for the restart.


Cartelle battled back later to snatch the lead after the restart, and the Belgian went on to win the gold at the second attempt after finishing third at the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games in Marseille.


Additionally, the Final ultimately ended under a red flag after five laps due to additional incidents, which even included a rolled-over buggie. One of the other afflicted drivers was Diego Martinez of Team Spain, whose buggie could not continue after an accident while running in second place. However, the results were counted back to the previous lap, allowing Martinez to retain his silver medal in front of his home crowd.


Sacha Daayvot of Team France survived the chaotic Final to finish third for the bronze medal.


Cross Car Mini: Spain Celebrates as the New Category Shines

October 27, 2024

In the first ever Cross Car Mini competition at the FIA Motorsport Games, Hugo Fuertes took home the gold medal for Team Spain, meaning the host nation scored a medal in all three Cross Car Categories.


Fuertes battled Merel Hoogstra from Team Netherlands in a shootout and the two buggies even bumped side-to-side at the start of the second Final race in competitive fashion. Fuertes ultimately prevailed with Hoogstra securing the silver medal.


The bronze medal decider featured a photo finish between Team Canada’s Ava Cabral and Team Czechia’s Michal Hrčka. Cabral won the first of two Final races and trailed Hrčka on the final lap of Race 2. However, Cabral pulled alongside her rival in the final corners and made a photo-finish pass at the chequered flag.


Karting Mini: Portugal prevail in fantastic Final

October 27, 2024

Team Portugal claimed a brilliant gold medal in the Karting Mini Final as Xavier Lázaro prevailed at the end of pulsating 11-lap battle.


The inaugural running of the Karting Mini category at the FIA Motorsport Games has proved to be one of the most exciting spectacles on the entire schedule with wheel-to-wheel action taking place throughout the weekend.


The first-ever Karting Mini Final continued that theme as Portugal’s Lázaro took a hard earned and well-deserved victory.


Lázaro had enjoyed an event-long rivalry with Team USA’s Joshua Bergman with the pair being separated by around a tenth of a second in no fewer than two of the previous Heats.


Despite Lázaro getting the better of Bergman in those particular duels, it was the American who started on pole for the Final by virtue of his cumulative results across three Heats.


Bergman made a solid start and held P1 before Team Spain’s Nuvola Morales Mendez came through to lead. That’s where the drama began as a concertina effect bumped the leading karts together, leaving Bergman without momentum and dropping down the order.


Team Portugal and Spain traded places on a number of occasions with Team Australia’s Jay Kostecki also enjoying a brief spell at the front, but the moment of truth came on lap nine as Lázaro finally made his move stick.


The young gun went on to win as the action unfolded behind in the battle for second.


When the dust settled, and the karts crossed the finish line for the final time, it was Lázaro winning from the impressive Estonian Bennet Korjus while Morales Mendez completed the podium for Spain.


Auto Slalom: Slovakia earns redemptive gold

October 27, 2024

Vanquished in the final two years ago, Michaela Dorčíková and David Nemcek returned to this year’s FIA Motorsport Games with a single objective: win Auto Slalom gold for Slovakia.


After a series of impressive performances in Qualifying, the Slovak squad looked to be a major threat to pre-event favourite Germany. Having swept the Electric Street discipline in 2022 and then secured Karting Slalom honours this morning, the German squad was on for an historic fourth gold. Defending winner Claire Schonborn was back, though with a new teammate in Markus Firsching.


Most had anticipated a repeat of the 2022 Final, but it was not to be, with the match-up instead falling in the Semi-Finals. Slovakia edged it by 1.2 seconds, despite a typically strong showing from Schonborn. In the other Semi, Estonia beat Israel by five seconds to set up meeting with Slovakia.


Estonia’s Kristian Hallikmägi was the fastest driver on Course 1 and Course 2, but the consistency of Dorčíková and Nemcek was enough to secure Slovakia’s win. Dorčíková was in tears as she celebrated her nation’s first-ever gold medal at the FIA Motorsport Games. In the bronze medal match-up, Germany saw off Israel to take the consolation prize.


Results: Final


 


Formula 4: High five! Spain secures fifth gold medal

October 27, 2024

Team Spain secured its fifth gold medal of the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games thanks to a dominant performance from Juan Cota Alonso.


Having battled his way to pole during yesterday’s Qualifying Race, the home hero proved unshakeable in the Final, leading from lights-to-flag to boost his country’s chances of finishing top of this year’s medal table.


Cota Alonso made a strong start to head the pack into turn one, as Team Peru’s Andres Cardenas, Sri Lanka’s Yevan David and Reza Seewooruthun in the Team United Kingdom car slotted into formation behind.


Bidding to become the first driver ever to secure golds in two different categories at the Games following his Karting Sprint Jr title in 2022, Cardenas pushed the Spain car hard, getting alongside through turn two before Cota Alonso fended him off.


There was a brief Safety Car after Czechia and Greece collided, but Cota Alonso pulled clear at the restart, controlling a gap of just over a second to take honours. Puru was second, with United Kingdom grabbing bronze after Sri Lanka was hit with a penalty for track limits that dropped David to 11th in the final order. Ariel Elkin was fourth for Israel, ahead of Tosei Moriyama for Japan.




Karting Slalom: Team Germany keeps its nerve and retains the gold

October 27, 2024

Germany has successfully defended its Karting Slalom gold medal by triumphing in today’s Final at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.


Two years on from its victory in France with Annika Spielberger and Sebastian Romberg, the new German crew of Maja Braun and Louis Stange took their place on the top step of the podium with a typically metronomic showing.


The Semi-Final match-ups saw Germany overcome Poland while Hungary defeated the Netherlands. In the Small Final, the Dutch enjoyed a comfortable win over Poland as Oliver Jansen and Senna Bison secured victory by more than 13 seconds. Jansen was quickest on both courses to secure bronze for his nation.


The Final was a much closer affair. The defending gold medallist did not have it easy, edging the Hungarians by a little over a second. Indeed, it was Hungary’s Balázs Sturcz who produced the fastest combined Course 1 time of 1m41.455s, while Anna Benedek posted the best lap on Course 2.


But overall the Germans were superior on Course 2, incurring no penalties and securing the gold medal by a shade over a second. It comes after the same nation swept the Electric Street discipline in 2022, a feat it could still match at the 2024 edition.


Result: Semi-Final | Final


 


GT Sprint: Güven lays down a marker to put Team Türkiye on pole

October 27, 2024

Ayhancan Güven will start this afternoon’s GT Sprint medal race from pole position after a commanding Qualifying performance from the Team Türkiye driver.


Güven topped the opening session aboard his Porsche 911 GT3 R, meaning he would run last in the deciding Super Pole shootout. A 1m30.943s was enough to confirm his status as the fastest man at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.


Finn Wiebelhaus qualified second for Germany, taking full advantage of the extra track time from yesterday’s GT contest. He was 0.297s shy of Güven, but 0.195s ahead of local favourite Daniel Juncadella (Team Spain Mercedes-AMG). This trio has a clear pace advantage over the rest of the field.


Darren Leung will start fourth in the Team United Kingdom Ferrari. He beat Jazeman Jafaar (Team Malaysia Lamborghini), who caused the second of two red flag stoppages by sliding into the gravel during Super Pole. Next up were Chinese Taipei (Mercedes-AMG), United Arab Emirates (Porsche) and Latvia (Audi).


The medal race gets underway at 15:00.


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