VALENCIA, Spain — Spain leads the medal table following the penultimate day of competition at the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games after striking gold in Rally2 Tarmac and Rally4 Tarmac during a busy day in Valencia. Italy also added to its haul by triumphing in Rally Historic Tarmac.
A further four categories were settled on Saturday. Karting Endurance staged its four-hour medal race at Aspar Circuit, where Belgium successfully defended its 2022 victory. GT gold went to Germany after a tense battle with the United Kingdom, while Brazil doubled up with wins in Esports GT and Esports F4.
The event will conclude on Sunday, when a further 16 sets of medals will be decided.
The FIA Motorsport Games is broadcast LIVE on SPEED SPORT 1.
Gt
Germany has won GT gold at the FIA Motorsport Games after a dramatic final contest in which it overcame a spirited fight from the United Kingdom.
The UK Ferrari started from pole with James Cottingham at the wheel, but Hubert Haupt was on the attack from the word go. The German-flagged Mercedes-AMG was alongside on the run towards Turn 2 and muscled past into the corner.
Having dominated his segment of Qualifying, it might have been expected that Haupt would disappear into the distance. But Cottingham proved a more than worthy adversary, the two trading purple sectors and running between five tenths and one second apart.
The United Kingdom lost a little time in the pits, giving Finn Wiebelhaus a few seconds advantage. Chris Froggatt made fast work of this and was soon pushing hard for the lead.
Froggatt then earned a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits. He finally found a way past Wiebelhaus with a forceful move on the 45-minute mark, but now needed to gap the German by five seconds.
He gave it everything, but in pushing to make up time Froggatt recieved a second track limits penalty. Wiebelhaus was able to stay close behind, ultimately taking victory once the penalties had been administered.
Switzerland claimed the bronze medal in dramatic fashion as Yannick Mettler passed Jorge Cabezas Catalán (Spain) on the final lap. The Swiss Mercedes-AMG made major progress during the second half of the race after Dexter Müller ran the opening stint.
Esports GT
Team Brazil scored its first-ever FIA Motorsport Games gold medal after an inspired performance by Igor De Oliveira Rodrigues, who capped a dominant event with a lights-to-flag victory in the Esports GT Final.
Both the Brazilian driver and Team Czechia’s Vojtech Fiala went into the Final having enjoyed a 100% record across Qualifying, the Quarter-Final and Semi-Finals, with both drivers having led every lap of their respective contests from pole. Something had to give in the Final, and an inspired drive by De Oliveira Rodrigues secured the honours.
Brazil got away well to head Czechia into turn one and then crafted a slim 2.6s lead by the time the pit window opened. Team Germany’s Niklas Houben had managed to stick with the top two and was the first to pit, which proved an inspired decision when he managed to vault past Fiala when Czechia made its stop a lap later.
From then, Brazil controlled the gap back to Germany, as Czechia secured the bronze medal position. Brazil also becomes the third different nation to celebrate an Esports GT gold medal, alongside Australia and the United Kingdom, while Germany and Czechia’s results mean there has yet to be a repeat Esports GT medallist, with nine different nations occupying the podium across the three editions.
Japan took fourth ahead of Chile and Spain.
Esports F4
Team Brazil continued its streak in the Esports contests at the City of Arts & Sciences with its F4 arm scoring a big win in the first Semi-Final, with Team Switzerland joining them on the front row of the Final later after victory in the second.
Brazilian Luis Felipe de Sà Tavares withstood heavy pressure from Team Singapore’s Ar Muhammad Aleef Mohamed Rafik in an opening race that boiled down to a straight fight between the two.
Brazil and Singapore slipstreamed each other clear of the pack, with Brazil drafting ahead on the Kemmel Straight on the final lap. Singapore lined up a late attack into the Bus Stop Chicane but, despite a slight rub, Brazil held on to book its place on the front row of tonight’s Final. Team Czechia completed the podium with Martin Kadlečik. Retirement after an early clash meant Team United Kingdom missed out on making the final of an Esports contest at the Games for the first time.
Switzerland’s Jimmy Antunes kept his cool to lead a four-car train in the second race, timing his pass for the lead perfectly into No Name and then steering clear of an over-shooting Netherlands to secure victory.
Netherland’s Isaac Lennert recovered for second, inches ahead of Türkiye’s Ulaș Özyildirim and Republic of South Korea driver Gyumin Kim.
Historic Rally
Italy’s Andrea Zivian and Nicola Arena powered to a clean sweep of Historic Rally Tarmac stage wins on Saturday morning, while Team Great Britain retains the Overall class lead.
“Zippo” and co-driver Arena are chasing a third gold medal. The pair claimed top spot across Friday’s dedicated Gravel stages to add to their success from 2022, when Historic Rally – for cars homologated between 1971 and 1980 – made its FIA Motorsport Games debut.
Helping the cause aboard their Audi quattro, the Italians were fastest in the Historic Rally Tarmac class across the opening three stages on Saturday as the competition shifted to smooth, asphalt roads. Their advantage in the Tarmac category stands at 1:11.1s.
Currently in second is Great Britain’s dedicated Tarmac line-up of James Potter / Tim Sayer (Ford Escort RS), while Antonio Sainz (brother to two-time World Rally Champion, Carlos Sr) and Carlos Cancela guided their Porsche 911 SC to third.
To decide the Historic Rally Overall contest, Friday’s Gravel results are added to Saturday’s times. Great Britain’s mixed-surface entry of Ben Mellors and Alex Lee (Toyota Celica) retain first on the combined leaderboard, helped by a win in the third Saturday stage.
Team Italy lies second, while Czechia’s Vojtěch Štajf / Veronika Havelková (Opel Ascona) are third.
The crews face three more asphalt stages this afternoon ahead of a Super Special Stage at Circuit Ricardo Tormo to decide the Tarmac medals.
Rally4
Sergi Perez and co-driver Axel Coronado won all three Rally4 Tarmac stages for Team Spain on Saturday morning in their bid to add to their Gravel gold medal.
In the category for front-wheel-drive machinery, the Peugeot 208 pair were quickest across Friday’s six dirt stages and Super Special Stage at Circuit Ricardo Tormo to claim the Gravel class glory.
With the competition shifting to the smoother asphalt roads of the designated Tarmac Rally Area to the southwest of Valencia on Saturday, Perez / Coronado remained the in-form duo. They were fastest on all three morning stages to take a lead of 34.6s into the break as they work to secure victory in the dedicated Rally4 Tarmac contest also.
Team Türkiye’s line-up of Kerem Kazaz / Onur Vatansever kept the pressure on by finishing the opening two stages on Saturday in second. Then taking fourth on the third leg, they occupy second in class with a deficit of 34.6s.
Greece’s Christos Avgeropoulos / Efstratios Giavasis sit 15s further back, although the Netherland’s Nard Ippen / Jorie Christiaens (Opel Corsa) are only another 2.4s behind.
Perez / Coronado keep Spain in first place in Rally4 Overall – which combines both Gravel and Tarmac times – ahead of Brazil’s Luis Eduardo Stedile / Carlos Enrique Morales as Tom Kässer / Stephan Schneeweiß hold third for Germany.
Three more Tarmac routes await the crews this afternoon before a second Super Special Stage, with the top trio at the end of the day claiming the medals.
Rally2
Team Spain’s perfect record in Rally2 continues, as Alejandro Cachón and co-driver Borja Rozada surged to the top of the times in all three Tarmac stages on Saturday morning.
Representing the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games host nation in the category for four-wheel-drive cars powered by turbocharged 1600cc engines, the Toyota GR Yaris pair won all six Gravel stages on Friday before topping the Super Special Stage at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
A new day brought a switch to smoother asphalt roads. Despite the change of discipline, Cachón / Rozada’s dominant form carried over as they secured a hat-trick of stage wins.
They now lead the dedicated Rally2 Tarmac class by 25.8s ahead of Türkiye’s Ali Türkkan / Oytun Albayrak (Ford Fiesta), who secured fourth in the day’s opening leg before improving to twice finish as the runners-up.
Sitting third, just 2.1s further back, is Kenneth Madsen / Mette Felthaus for Denmark. The Citroën C3 duo hold a 15.9s advantage over the Hyundai i20N of Team Luxembourg’s Steve Fernandez / Steve Kirfel.
Entrants face a further three Tarmac routes this afternoon prior to a second Super Special Stage, with the top trio at the end of the day winning the medals.
Denmark and Luxembourg have chosen to specialise in the Rally2 Tarmac division, which places Mexico’s Alejandro Mauro Sanchez / Adrian Perez (Škoda Fabia) third behind Spain and Türkiye in Rally2 Overall – which combines the Gravel and Tarmac stage times.
Karting Endurance
Team Spain doubled up in Karting Sprint Sr as Ruben Moya Lopez triumphed in both heats, much to the delight of a passionate home crowd.
Team Czechia’s Václav Procházka and Team Malta’s Jacob Micallef were second and third in the opener, although the latter was disqualified post-race, subsequently promoting Team Romania’s Alex Machado into the podium positions.
Procházka’s performance was particularly impressive as he made a couple of eye-catching moves on his way up to second, arguably confirming his tag as Moya Lopez’ biggest rival for the gold medal.
It was a repeat result on-track in the next heat too as the same three drivers pulled clear of the chasing pack, with Procházka again getting the better of Micallef with another slick pass.
Malta’s Micallef is also clearly another medal contender, as he bounced back well from the earlier disqualification.
The consistency of Lithuanian Markas Silkunas cannot be discounted either, as the young talent’s fourth and fifth place finishes so far leave him nicely poised in the fight for honors.
Drifting
The Semi-Final line-up for Drifting was set today at Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Two nations did not participate in Qualifying, allowing two competitors automatic progression to the next phase.
Joakim Andersson (Sweden) earned the best score with 93 points, narrowly beating Jakus Przygonski (Poland) and Koji Tada (Japan) to top spot. As such the Swedish and Polish entries will not need to contest the Semi-Finals. Simen Olsen (Norway), Bas Mul (Netherlands) and 2022 gold medallist Kristaps Bluss (Latvia) also finished among the top six.
The other 14 contests will see nations go head to head at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, whittling the contenders down until a Top 4 emerges. They will compete to decide the finalists, as well as the bronze medal play-off.
Today’s absentees were Mathias Locatelli (France) and Jean-Eric Ayrton Sieber (Germany), whose participation is over.
Cross Car
The three Cross Car categories were most impacted by Friday evening’s rain in Valencia, as a wet off-road course made for a quiet morning and a stacked afternoon featuring two heats of action. Because of the weather delay, Heat 3 races originally scheduled for Saturday will run on Sunday morning.
In the Cross Car Senior category, Sebastian Enholm of Team Sweden and David Meat of Team France won Heats 1 and 2, respectively. In Cross Car Junior, it was Bryan Luca Neumeyer of Team Germany and Diego Martinez of Team Spain setting themselves up well on Sunday following heat victories on Sunday.
In Cross Car Mini, the four drivers advancing to the category’s Semi-Final are Team Czechia’s Michal Hrcka, Team Spain’s Hugo Fuertes, Team Netherlands’ Merel Hoogstra and Team Canada’s Ava Cabral.
Auto Slalom
The final four contenders for Auto Slalom gold were decided by today’s Eight-Finals and Quarter-Finals at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
EIGHT-FINAL
Having led the way in yesterday’s Qualifying, Slovakia comfortably dispatched Albania thanks to the combined efforts of Michaela Dorčíková / David Nemcek. Germany overcame Ukraine in a surprisingly close contest, while Israel beat Australia and Estonia beat Czechia.
Malaysia sent Poland home with an impressive combined time of 5m36.469s, which ranked as the best result of the Eight-Final. South Korea overcame Croatia – the only instance of a lower seed taking the win – while Hungary eliminated the United Kingdom.
QUARTER-FINAL
There were no significant upsets in the Quarter-Finals. Germany beat Lithuania by a shade under six seconds, while Slovakia maintained its status as gold medal favourite by comfortably overcoming Hungary.
Israel was the star performer, its combined time of 5m43.078s proving to be the best of the round. The only surprise was that Malaysia could not maintain its earlier form, exiting at the hands of Estonia.
As such it will be Slovakia, Germany, Israel and Estonia that battle for gold.
F4
Spain booked its place on pole position for tomorrow’s Formula 4 medal showdown with a hard-fought victory in this afternoon’s Qualifying Race.
Juan Cota Alonso took the lead with a fast start from second on the grid, beating pole-sitter Yevan David (Sri Lanka) in a drag race to Turn 1. David was initially able to apply pressure to the Spaniard, but Cota Alonso soon broke clear.
There was still work to do, however. Andres Cardenas moved his Peruvian-flagged entry into second spot with an incisive pass on David after the Sri Lankan ran wide. Thereafter Cardenas showed impressive speed, posting the fastest lap of the race as he chased down Cota Alonso.
The Peru driver closed right up to the leader, but did not quite have enough to launch an attack. Spain thus secured pole for Sunday’s decider ahead of Peru, with Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom set to share the second row. Luxembourg, Slovakia, Israel and Japan complete the top eight on Saturday.