Team Italy appeared to have secured gold in Sunday’s Touring Car Final, only for Marco Butti’s car to be stripped of the result due to a technical infringement post-race. That handed Team Argentina driver Ignacio Montenegro not only his country’s first gold of the FIA Motorsport Games, but its first-ever medal of any type.
Butti started the race back in ninth after a penalty for track limit violations during Saturday’s Qualifying Race, but this time kept things within the lines to climb the order and challenge pole-sitter Montenegro for the lead in the closing stages. The two banged doors as they battled with less than 10 minutes remaining, with Butti finding a way past to take the win on the road. However, inspections after the race led to the car being disqualified, and Argentina being promoted to the gold medal place.
That was just the start of the podium shuffle as Team Spain, which initially took bronze, was penalised for contact. That, and Italy’s exclusion, elevated Brazil’s Raphael Reis to second behind Argentina, and Czechia’s Adam Kout into third.
Argentina becomes the third different Touring Car gold medallist in as many FIA Motorsport Games, following the Netherlands in 2022 and Russia in 2019.